Manhattan Project feed materials program: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Gilbert Labine examining uranium ore at the Eldorado Mine located at Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gilbert LaBine]] examines uranium ore at the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] ]]

On 16 May, LaBine found pitchblende near the shores of Echo Bay at a mine site that became [[Port Radium]].{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=23–25}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Science: Radium |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://time.com/archive/6757353/science-radium/ |access-date=25 February 2025 }}</ref> Eldorado also established a processing plant at Port Hope, Ontario, the only facility of its kind in North America. To run it, LaBine hired Marcel Pochon, a French chemist who had learned how to refine radium under [[Pierre Curie]], who was working at the recently closed [[South Terras mine]] in Cornwall.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=55–57}}<ref>{{cite web |title=How Canada supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project |publisher=CBC Documentaries |url=https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/how-canada-supplied-uranium-for-the-manhattan-project-1.7402051 |access-date=25 February 2025 |archive-date=11 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211161617/https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/how-canada-supplied-uranium-for-the-manhattan-project-1.7402051 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Science: Radium |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758086-2,00.html |access-date=25 February 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010121538/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758086-2,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ore was mined at Port Radium and shipped via [[Great Bear River|Great Bear]], [[Mackenzie River|Mackenzie]] and [[Slave River]]s to [[Waterways, Alberta]], and thence by rail to Port Hope.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=11–15}}<ref name="Macleans">{{cite magazine |title=Port Radium's Eldorado - The Mine that Shook the World |first=Ronald A. |last=Keith |magazine=Maclean's Magazine |date=15 November 1945 |via=Republic of Mining |url=https://republicofmining.com/2016/09/14/port-radiums-eldorado-the-mine-that-shook-the-world-by-ronald-a-keith-macleans-magazine-november-15-1945/ |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Two In 1936, Eldorado Gold Mines took over [[towboatMarine Transportation Services|Northern Transportation Company Limited]]s were(NTCL). acquired:Its flagships were the ''[[Radium KingQueen (ship)|Radium Queen]]'' and ''[[Radium QueenKing]]'' both commissioned in 1937.<ref>{{Cite book |last=van Wyck |first=Peter |title=Highway of the Atom |date=2010 |publisher=MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-3783-5 |___location=Montreal |pages=31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=15 April 1937 |title=Radium King's en route - Eldorado subsidiary ship leaves for west by train |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Gi8rAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qZgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4583,2000389&dq=radium-king&hl=en and|work=The theyMontreal Gazette |volume=CLXVI |issue=90}}</ref> The two [[Tugboat|tugboats]] pulled or pushed, depending on the conditions, ore [[scow]]s named ''Radium One'' to ''Radium Twelve''.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=66–67}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Discouraging Difficulties Overcome by Eldorado Pioneers |newspaper=[[Edmonton Bulletin]] |date=11 December 1945 |page=16 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edmonton-bulletin/113391751/ |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Great Bear Lake is only navigable between early July and early October, being icebound the rest of the year,{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=11, 41}} but mining activity continued year-round, sustained by the [[Eldorado Radium Silver Express]], which flew personnel and supplies to the mine and transported ores back by air.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}}{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=368–375}}<ref name="CnsBulletin2005">{{cite journal |author=Arsenault |first=Jim E. |date=December 2005 |title=The Eldorado Radium Silver Express |url=https://cns-snc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Vol26_No4_2005.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Canadian Nuclear Society Bulletin |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=47–49 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2012-12-01}}</ref>

Competition from Union Minière was fierce and served to drive the price of radium down from CAD$70 per milligram in 1930 ({{Inflation|CA|70|1930|fmt=eq}}) to CAD$21 per milligram in 1937 ({{Inflation|CA|21|1937|fmt=eq}}). Boris Pregel negotiated a cartel deal with Union Minière under which each company gained exclusive access to its home market and split the rest of the world 60:40 in Union Minière's favor. The outbreak of war in September 1939 blocked access to hard-won European markets, especially Germany, a major customer for ceramic-grade uranium. Union Minière lost its refinery at [[Olen, Belgium|Olen]] when Belgium was overrun, forcing it to use Eldorado's mill at Port Hope.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=71–75}} With sufficient stocks on hand for five years of operations, Eldorado closed the mine in June 1940.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}}{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=102–107}}