\n~ in the World’s First Atomic Bombs ~<\/span><\/h1>\n
<\/p>\n
Verbatim Quotations from Authoritative Sources<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
prepared by G. Edwards, Ph.D., 1998<\/b><\/h5>\n
\n\n<\/a>Excerpts<\/big> from<\/big><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n- Port Radium Memorial<\/a><\/span>
\nText Engraved on a Large Bronze Plaque
\nAttached to a five-foot high Concrete Marker<\/small>
\nerected on the site of the original Eldorado Mine<\/small>
\nPort Radium, NWT, 1985<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/a>
\nby Robert Bothwell, University of Toronto<\/span>
\nThe Official History of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.<\/small>
\n(commissioned by Eldorado)<\/small>
\nU. of T. Press, Toronto, 1984<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Canada’s Nuclear Story<\/a>
\nby Wilfrid J. Eggleston<\/span>
\nThe Official History of
\nAtomic Energy of Canada Ltd.<\/small>
\n(commissioned by AECL)<\/small>
\nClarke Irwin & Co., Toronto, 1965.<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb<\/a>
\nby Vincent G. Jones<\/span>
\nSeries: US Army in WWII Special Studies<\/small>
\nCenter of Military History, US Army<\/small>
\nWashington, D.C., 1985<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Linking Legacies:<\/a>
\nConnecting the Cold War
\nNuclear Productions Processes
\nTo Their Environmental Consequences<\/span>
\nU.S. Department of Energy
\nOffice of Environmental Management<\/small>
\nChapter 2:
\nNuclear Weapons Production
\nProcesses and History<\/small>
\nWashington, D.C., January, 1997<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Strategic Procurement for Manhattan<\/a>
\nby William Chenoweth<\/span>
\nposted on the Wyoming Mining Association web site<\/small>
\nwww.tcd.net\/~wma\/uranium\/art194.html<\/small>
\nPaydirt, January, 1998.<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\nExcerpts from:<\/i><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
Port Radium Memorial<\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
text engraved on a bronze plaque
\nattached to a five-foot tall concrete cairn<\/span><\/h3>\nat the site of the original Eldorado Mine
\non the Eastern Shore of Great Bear Lake<\/p>\n
Port Radium, Northwest Territories,<\/h4>\n
prepared by George Woolett
\nfor Echo Bay Mines, 1985<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
from\u00a0Port Radium Memorial<\/span><\/big><\/h5>\n <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.ccnr.org\/gifs\/marker.jpg\")
\u00a0<\/center><\/p>\ntext engraved on a bronze plaque attached to a five-foot tall concrete cairn
\nat the site of the original Eldorado Mine on the Eastern Shore of Great Bear Lake<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nPort Radium, Northwest Territories,
\nprepared by George Woolett for Echo Bay Mines in 1985<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n- \n
\n- “On\u00a0May 16, 1930<\/span><\/b>, Gilbert Labine discovered a vein containing silver and pitchblende near this site. The discovery led to the development of the Eldorado Mine and the townsite of\u00a0Port Radium<\/span><\/b>\u00a0by his company, Eldorado Gold Mines. The Eldorado Mine commenced production of silver and radium in 1933.\n<\/div>\n
“The mine was\u00a0the only source of radium outside of the Belgian Congo.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Because of the high demand for radium for use in medical treatment, this source was of\u00a0world significance<\/span><\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n“The Eldorado Mine was\u00a0closed in 1940<\/span><\/b>\u00a0due to World War II and an over-supply of radium.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n- “The mine was\u00a0re-opened in 1942<\/span><\/b>\u00a0by Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd., a federal crown company,\u00a0to supply uranium for the Manhattan Project (the development of an atomic bomb)<\/span><\/b>.”Processing of the radium and uranium ore resulted in the establishment of a\u00a0world class refining facility at Port Hope, Ontario<\/span><\/b>.”Exhaustion of the uranium ore led to\u00a0mine closure in 1960″<\/span><\/b>.
\n
\n. . . back to\u00a0TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nExcerpts from:<\/i><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
\nEldorado:
\nCanada’s National Uranium Company<\/small><\/span><\/h2>\nby Robert Bothwell<\/span><\/h3>\nThe official history of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.,
\ncommissioned by Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
University of Toronto Press
\nToronto, 1984<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
from\u00a0Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/span><\/big><\/h4>\n<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n- On\u00a06 August 1945<\/span><\/b>, an American B-29 bomber,\u00a0the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima<\/span><\/b>, Japan….<\/span>[Canadian Minister of Munitions and Supply, C. D.]\u00a0Howe was ready for the occasion. As a member of the\u00a0Combined Policy Committee<\/a>, he knew … it was intended<\/span><\/b>\u00a0to use the bomb to bring the Japanese war to an end….<\/a>\u00a0
![](\"https:\/\/www.ccnr.org\/gifs\/cd_howe.jpg\")
\u00a0<\/center>
\nThe Honourable C. D. Howe<\/h4>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As\u00a0minister responsible for Canada’s part of the allied atomic project<\/span><\/b>, Howe and his lieutenant, C. J. Mackenzie, had drafted a statement… in which the minister said that<\/span>“it is a distinct pleasure for me to announce that\u00a0Canadian scientists have played an intimate part, and have been associated in an effective way<\/span><\/b>\u00a0with this great scientific development.”<\/p>\nFrom the Interlude, “War Into Cold War”, p. 157<\/p>\n
<\/li>\n
- Alone of the three powers, Canada had not had a change of government.\u00a0Mackenzie King was still prime minister<\/span><\/b>…. “How strange it is,” King wrote in his diary on 11 October [1945], “that I should find myself\u00a0at the very centre of the problem, through Canada possessing uranium, having contributed to the production of the bomb<\/span><\/b>, being recognized as one of the three countries to hold most of the secrets. “<\/span>\n
From the Interlude, “War Into Cold War”, p. 159<\/p>\n
from Chapter 3: From Radium to Uranium<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n <\/li>\n
- The New York Times editorialized on\u00a03 Feb. [1939]<\/span><\/b>\u00a0… that\u00a0splitting the uranium atom meant ‘the release of enormous amounts of energy.’<\/span><\/b>… That which released energy could also cause an explosion. What exploded\u00a0could be used in war<\/span><\/b>….<\/span>There were\u00a0three possible sources of uranium<\/span><\/b>…. One was now in German hands [Czechoslovakia<\/span><\/b>], and the other two were the Belgian\u00a0Congo<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and ‘Arctic Canada<\/span><\/b>‘. [ pp. 84-86 ]from Chapter 4: Private into Public<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/li>\n
- On the morning of\u00a015 June 1942, three men were ushered into the office of the prime minister of Canada<\/span><\/b>, William Lyon Mackenzie King. One was familiar to the prime minister: Malcolm MacDonald, the British high commissioner…. MacDonald introduced his companions … Professor G. P. Thompson [and] Michael Perrin.<\/span>What the British wanted, King learned, ‘was the acquisition of some property in Canada, so as\u00a0to prevent competition in price on a mineral much needed in the manufacture of explosives<\/span><\/b>.’ Perrin then took over. What was involved, he told the Canadian leader, was\u00a0a ‘military weapon of immense destructive force,’ based on intra-atomic energy<\/span><\/b>. Naturally it also had implications for industrial power later, but for the moment\u00a0the bomb was the thing<\/span><\/b>. Perrin recalled that ‘a look of absolute horror and panic’ stole over King’s face as the lecture proceeded. ‘The first country to possess a military weapon of this kind would win the war<\/span><\/b>,’ King was told….<\/li>\n
- Another meeting was convened, this time with Howe presiding and C. J. Mackenzie, president of the National Research Council, sitting at his side…. Once the scientific preliminaries were over\u00a0discussion centred directly on radium and uranium supply…. It was obviously important that the government ‘control’ Eldorado.<\/span><\/b><\/span>The British delegation contemplated acquiring control for themselves and the Americans,\u00a0in effect locating a small and autonomous part of Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project [the British and American code names for the A- bomb project] on Canadian soil<\/span><\/b>. This idea was now put to Howe who did not reject it…. From this emerged a conclusion that eventually Eldorado would be subject to tripartite control…. The Americans were to be informed … and their approval sought.The most surprising thing about this proposal is that C.D. Howe agreed to it. It was, on the face of it, a most unusual proposal…. [pp. 119-121]from Chapter 3: From Radium to Uranium<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/li>\n
- In\u00a0May 1941<\/span><\/b>, [ Eldorado ] sold Lyman Briggs [the Chairman of Roosevelt’s Uranium Committee]\u00a0six or eight tons of uranium oxide<\/span><\/b>….<\/span>It is impossible to know what the company or its president made of this, but it is reasonable to suppose that they knew\u00a0it had to do with the military applications of uranium<\/span><\/b>.Early in\u00a0March 1942<\/span><\/b>, [Eldorado received] an order for\u00a060 tons of uranium oxide<\/span><\/b>, approved by [ Vannevar Bush, ] the\u00a0head of the US atomic project<\/span><\/b>….The 60-ton order from the Americans was\u00a0enough to re-open the mine<\/span><\/b>…. In other, older days the news would have been trumpeted from the rooftops. In March 1942 it was\u00a0a secret<\/span><\/b>.<\/a><\/li>\n
- Work at the\u00a0Mallinckrodt Chemical Company<\/a><\/b>\u00a0in St. Louis Missouri … improved the … [Canadian] uranium oxide ‘to a degree of purity seldom achieved even on a laboratory scale,’ as the Manhattan Project later reported…. This breakthrough\u00a0eliminated a botleneck that might have proved fatal to any hope of constructing a bomb<\/span><\/b>\u00a0for use in World War II.<\/span>Uranium oxide from Eldorado<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(‘grossly impure commercial oxide,’ according to the official 1945 Smyth Report)\u00a0could now be shipped to St. Louis, and then sent on<\/span><\/b>….Starting in\u00a0May 1942<\/span><\/b>, therefore, Eldorado shipped\u00a015 tons a month<\/span><\/b>. The company assisted the Americans by reducing the impurities in its oxide to what the latter considered a more reasonable level — one per cent or less. To do that, it merely had to clean up\u00a0piles of oxide in the refinery yard<\/span><\/b>, start emptying its\u00a0silos<\/span><\/b>, and begin forwarding\u00a0concentrates piled up at Waterways<\/span><\/b>, Alberta, and, once the\u00a0Great Bear Lake mine<\/span><\/b>\u00a0reopened, the\u00a0concentrates there<\/span><\/b>\u00a0as well. It would only be in 1943 that the misadventures in mining in the Arctic would begin to have an impact on Eldorado’s ability to deliver on its contracts. [pp. 108-9]<\/li>\n
- If [the mine at] Great Bear Lake was really to get going<\/span><\/b>, the Americans were told, the next contingent of 150 men would have to go in almost immediately. To supply them with equipment, and to keep them in fresh food, would require\u00a0regular flights in and out<\/span><\/b>…. Could the Americans expedite the scheduled delivery of two Lockheed Lodestar aircraft by nine months, changing the delivery date from February 1943 to May 1942?<\/span>By July, by air and by water, LaBine’s supplies were getting through.\u00a0Fortunately there was a reserve of ore available for instant shipment<\/span><\/b>, having been abandoned on the docks in June 1940. But it would take longer than expected to get the mine back into production….\u00a0
![](\"https:\/\/www.ccnr.org\/gifs\/eldorado_hopper.jpg\")
\u00a0<\/center>
\nRemoving ore from the Great Bear Lake mine, mid-1930s<\/h4>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.ccnr.org\/gifs\/eldorado_plane.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Flying radium and silver concentrates in winter to railhead<\/h4>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.ccnr.org\/gifs\/barge_convoy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
One of Eldorado’s ore-laden barge convoys.<\/h4>\n
\nphoto credits: Eldorado Resources Limited
\nin\u00a0Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/i><\/h4>\n
\n
<\/li>\n
- The mine was geared to maximum production.\u00a0The Americans wanted as much uranium as possible, as fast as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>[p. 104]<\/span>Those who got to Great Bear were better treated than their predecessors… In 1943 a recreation hall sprang up, complete with library, pool tables, store, and movie facilities. In 1944 a bowling alley was added. But if conditions above ground were better, those below ground were in many respects worse. The basic cause was the tendency of Great Bear Lake to flood the mine…. [p. 105]<\/li>\n
- Despite all the rush, and the selection of only the best stopes for mining,\u00a0production … tended to fall<\/span><\/b>. Its best month, August 1943, yielded only 80,000 pounds of U3<\/sub><\/small>O8<\/sub><\/small>\u00a0embodied in concentrates. By December, the worst month, yield was down to 18,454 pounds…. The Americans were not pleased by this development, which Eldorado’s management did its best to conceal. ‘It will be noted,’\u00a0a U.S. Army geologist reported in early 1944, ‘that the mine is behind in production<\/span><\/b>\u00a0some 27 tons of U3<\/sub><\/small>O8<\/sub><\/small>\u00a0as of April 1944 and that it has continued to fall behind continuously since 1 December [1943]. Unless this rate of production is considerably increased …\u00a0it seems unlikely that the contract commitments can be met<\/span><\/b>.’…<\/span>Some of the blame definitely attaches to the company. In the first place, the pace of demand was more than the company seems to have anticipated, and more than it could satisfy. But while\u00a0
<\/a>Excerpts<\/big> from<\/big><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n- Port Radium Memorial<\/a><\/span>
\nText Engraved on a Large Bronze Plaque
\nAttached to a five-foot high Concrete Marker<\/small>
\nerected on the site of the original Eldorado Mine<\/small>
\nPort Radium, NWT, 1985<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/a>
\nby Robert Bothwell, University of Toronto<\/span>
\nThe Official History of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.<\/small>
\n(commissioned by Eldorado)<\/small>
\nU. of T. Press, Toronto, 1984<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Canada’s Nuclear Story<\/a>
\nby Wilfrid J. Eggleston<\/span>
\nThe Official History of
\nAtomic Energy of Canada Ltd.<\/small>
\n(commissioned by AECL)<\/small>
\nClarke Irwin & Co., Toronto, 1965.<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb<\/a>
\nby Vincent G. Jones<\/span>
\nSeries: US Army in WWII Special Studies<\/small>
\nCenter of Military History, US Army<\/small>
\nWashington, D.C., 1985<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Linking Legacies:<\/a>
\nConnecting the Cold War
\nNuclear Productions Processes
\nTo Their Environmental Consequences<\/span>
\nU.S. Department of Energy
\nOffice of Environmental Management<\/small>
\nChapter 2:
\nNuclear Weapons Production
\nProcesses and History<\/small>
\nWashington, D.C., January, 1997<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n- Strategic Procurement for Manhattan<\/a>
\nby William Chenoweth<\/span>
\nposted on the Wyoming Mining Association web site<\/small>
\nwww.tcd.net\/~wma\/uranium\/art194.html<\/small>
\nPaydirt, January, 1998.<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\nExcerpts from:<\/i><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
Port Radium Memorial<\/span><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
text engraved on a bronze plaque
\nattached to a five-foot tall concrete cairn<\/span><\/h3>\nat the site of the original Eldorado Mine
\non the Eastern Shore of Great Bear Lake<\/p>\n
Port Radium, Northwest Territories,<\/h4>\n
prepared by George Woolett
\nfor Echo Bay Mines, 1985<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
from\u00a0Port Radium Memorial<\/span><\/big><\/h5>\n <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/center><\/p>\ntext engraved on a bronze plaque attached to a five-foot tall concrete cairn
\nat the site of the original Eldorado Mine on the Eastern Shore of Great Bear Lake<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nPort Radium, Northwest Territories,
\nprepared by George Woolett for Echo Bay Mines in 1985<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n- \n
\n- “On\u00a0May 16, 1930<\/span><\/b>, Gilbert Labine discovered a vein containing silver and pitchblende near this site. The discovery led to the development of the Eldorado Mine and the townsite of\u00a0Port Radium<\/span><\/b>\u00a0by his company, Eldorado Gold Mines. The Eldorado Mine commenced production of silver and radium in 1933.\n<\/div>\n
“The mine was\u00a0the only source of radium outside of the Belgian Congo.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Because of the high demand for radium for use in medical treatment, this source was of\u00a0world significance<\/span><\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n“The Eldorado Mine was\u00a0closed in 1940<\/span><\/b>\u00a0due to World War II and an over-supply of radium.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n- “The mine was\u00a0re-opened in 1942<\/span><\/b>\u00a0by Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd., a federal crown company,\u00a0to supply uranium for the Manhattan Project (the development of an atomic bomb)<\/span><\/b>.”Processing of the radium and uranium ore resulted in the establishment of a\u00a0world class refining facility at Port Hope, Ontario<\/span><\/b>.”Exhaustion of the uranium ore led to\u00a0mine closure in 1960″<\/span><\/b>.
\n
\n. . . back to\u00a0TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nExcerpts from:<\/i><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
\nEldorado:
\nCanada’s National Uranium Company<\/small><\/span><\/h2>\nby Robert Bothwell<\/span><\/h3>\nThe official history of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.,
\ncommissioned by Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
University of Toronto Press
\nToronto, 1984<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
from\u00a0Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/span><\/big><\/h4>\n<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n- On\u00a06 August 1945<\/span><\/b>, an American B-29 bomber,\u00a0the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima<\/span><\/b>, Japan….<\/span>[Canadian Minister of Munitions and Supply, C. D.]\u00a0Howe was ready for the occasion. As a member of the\u00a0Combined Policy Committee<\/a>, he knew … it was intended<\/span><\/b>\u00a0to use the bomb to bring the Japanese war to an end….<\/a>\u00a0
\u00a0<\/center>
\nThe Honourable C. D. Howe<\/h4>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As\u00a0minister responsible for Canada’s part of the allied atomic project<\/span><\/b>, Howe and his lieutenant, C. J. Mackenzie, had drafted a statement… in which the minister said that<\/span>“it is a distinct pleasure for me to announce that\u00a0Canadian scientists have played an intimate part, and have been associated in an effective way<\/span><\/b>\u00a0with this great scientific development.”<\/p>\nFrom the Interlude, “War Into Cold War”, p. 157<\/p>\n
<\/li>\n
- Alone of the three powers, Canada had not had a change of government.\u00a0Mackenzie King was still prime minister<\/span><\/b>…. “How strange it is,” King wrote in his diary on 11 October [1945], “that I should find myself\u00a0at the very centre of the problem, through Canada possessing uranium, having contributed to the production of the bomb<\/span><\/b>, being recognized as one of the three countries to hold most of the secrets. “<\/span>\n
From the Interlude, “War Into Cold War”, p. 159<\/p>\n
from Chapter 3: From Radium to Uranium<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n <\/li>\n
- The New York Times editorialized on\u00a03 Feb. [1939]<\/span><\/b>\u00a0… that\u00a0splitting the uranium atom meant ‘the release of enormous amounts of energy.’<\/span><\/b>… That which released energy could also cause an explosion. What exploded\u00a0could be used in war<\/span><\/b>….<\/span>There were\u00a0three possible sources of uranium<\/span><\/b>…. One was now in German hands [Czechoslovakia<\/span><\/b>], and the other two were the Belgian\u00a0Congo<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and ‘Arctic Canada<\/span><\/b>‘. [ pp. 84-86 ]from Chapter 4: Private into Public<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/li>\n
- On the morning of\u00a015 June 1942, three men were ushered into the office of the prime minister of Canada<\/span><\/b>, William Lyon Mackenzie King. One was familiar to the prime minister: Malcolm MacDonald, the British high commissioner…. MacDonald introduced his companions … Professor G. P. Thompson [and] Michael Perrin.<\/span>What the British wanted, King learned, ‘was the acquisition of some property in Canada, so as\u00a0to prevent competition in price on a mineral much needed in the manufacture of explosives<\/span><\/b>.’ Perrin then took over. What was involved, he told the Canadian leader, was\u00a0a ‘military weapon of immense destructive force,’ based on intra-atomic energy<\/span><\/b>. Naturally it also had implications for industrial power later, but for the moment\u00a0the bomb was the thing<\/span><\/b>. Perrin recalled that ‘a look of absolute horror and panic’ stole over King’s face as the lecture proceeded. ‘The first country to possess a military weapon of this kind would win the war<\/span><\/b>,’ King was told….<\/li>\n
- Another meeting was convened, this time with Howe presiding and C. J. Mackenzie, president of the National Research Council, sitting at his side…. Once the scientific preliminaries were over\u00a0discussion centred directly on radium and uranium supply…. It was obviously important that the government ‘control’ Eldorado.<\/span><\/b><\/span>The British delegation contemplated acquiring control for themselves and the Americans,\u00a0in effect locating a small and autonomous part of Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project [the British and American code names for the A- bomb project] on Canadian soil<\/span><\/b>. This idea was now put to Howe who did not reject it…. From this emerged a conclusion that eventually Eldorado would be subject to tripartite control…. The Americans were to be informed … and their approval sought.The most surprising thing about this proposal is that C.D. Howe agreed to it. It was, on the face of it, a most unusual proposal…. [pp. 119-121]from Chapter 3: From Radium to Uranium<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/li>\n
- In\u00a0May 1941<\/span><\/b>, [ Eldorado ] sold Lyman Briggs [the Chairman of Roosevelt’s Uranium Committee]\u00a0six or eight tons of uranium oxide<\/span><\/b>….<\/span>It is impossible to know what the company or its president made of this, but it is reasonable to suppose that they knew\u00a0it had to do with the military applications of uranium<\/span><\/b>.Early in\u00a0March 1942<\/span><\/b>, [Eldorado received] an order for\u00a060 tons of uranium oxide<\/span><\/b>, approved by [ Vannevar Bush, ] the\u00a0head of the US atomic project<\/span><\/b>….The 60-ton order from the Americans was\u00a0enough to re-open the mine<\/span><\/b>…. In other, older days the news would have been trumpeted from the rooftops. In March 1942 it was\u00a0a secret<\/span><\/b>.<\/a><\/li>\n
- Work at the\u00a0Mallinckrodt Chemical Company<\/a><\/b>\u00a0in St. Louis Missouri … improved the … [Canadian] uranium oxide ‘to a degree of purity seldom achieved even on a laboratory scale,’ as the Manhattan Project later reported…. This breakthrough\u00a0eliminated a botleneck that might have proved fatal to any hope of constructing a bomb<\/span><\/b>\u00a0for use in World War II.<\/span>Uranium oxide from Eldorado<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(‘grossly impure commercial oxide,’ according to the official 1945 Smyth Report)\u00a0could now be shipped to St. Louis, and then sent on<\/span><\/b>….Starting in\u00a0May 1942<\/span><\/b>, therefore, Eldorado shipped\u00a015 tons a month<\/span><\/b>. The company assisted the Americans by reducing the impurities in its oxide to what the latter considered a more reasonable level — one per cent or less. To do that, it merely had to clean up\u00a0piles of oxide in the refinery yard<\/span><\/b>, start emptying its\u00a0silos<\/span><\/b>, and begin forwarding\u00a0concentrates piled up at Waterways<\/span><\/b>, Alberta, and, once the\u00a0Great Bear Lake mine<\/span><\/b>\u00a0reopened, the\u00a0concentrates there<\/span><\/b>\u00a0as well. It would only be in 1943 that the misadventures in mining in the Arctic would begin to have an impact on Eldorado’s ability to deliver on its contracts. [pp. 108-9]<\/li>\n
- If [the mine at] Great Bear Lake was really to get going<\/span><\/b>, the Americans were told, the next contingent of 150 men would have to go in almost immediately. To supply them with equipment, and to keep them in fresh food, would require\u00a0regular flights in and out<\/span><\/b>…. Could the Americans expedite the scheduled delivery of two Lockheed Lodestar aircraft by nine months, changing the delivery date from February 1943 to May 1942?<\/span>By July, by air and by water, LaBine’s supplies were getting through.\u00a0Fortunately there was a reserve of ore available for instant shipment<\/span><\/b>, having been abandoned on the docks in June 1940. But it would take longer than expected to get the mine back into production….\u00a0
\u00a0<\/center>
\nRemoving ore from the Great Bear Lake mine, mid-1930s<\/h4>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Flying radium and silver concentrates in winter to railhead<\/h4>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
One of Eldorado’s ore-laden barge convoys.<\/h4>\n
\nphoto credits: Eldorado Resources Limited
\nin\u00a0Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/i><\/h4>\n
\n
<\/li>\n
- The mine was geared to maximum production.\u00a0The Americans wanted as much uranium as possible, as fast as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>[p. 104]<\/span>Those who got to Great Bear were better treated than their predecessors… In 1943 a recreation hall sprang up, complete with library, pool tables, store, and movie facilities. In 1944 a bowling alley was added. But if conditions above ground were better, those below ground were in many respects worse. The basic cause was the tendency of Great Bear Lake to flood the mine…. [p. 105]<\/li>\n
- Despite all the rush, and the selection of only the best stopes for mining,\u00a0production … tended to fall<\/span><\/b>. Its best month, August 1943, yielded only 80,000 pounds of U3<\/sub><\/small>O8<\/sub><\/small>\u00a0embodied in concentrates. By December, the worst month, yield was down to 18,454 pounds…. The Americans were not pleased by this development, which Eldorado’s management did its best to conceal. ‘It will be noted,’\u00a0a U.S. Army geologist reported in early 1944, ‘that the mine is behind in production<\/span><\/b>\u00a0some 27 tons of U3<\/sub><\/small>O8<\/sub><\/small>\u00a0as of April 1944 and that it has continued to fall behind continuously since 1 December [1943]. Unless this rate of production is considerably increased …\u00a0it seems unlikely that the contract commitments can be met<\/span><\/b>.’…<\/span>Some of the blame definitely attaches to the company. In the first place, the pace of demand was more than the company seems to have anticipated, and more than it could satisfy. But while\u00a0
\nText Engraved on a Large Bronze Plaque
\nAttached to a five-foot high Concrete Marker<\/small>
\nerected on the site of the original Eldorado Mine<\/small>
\nPort Radium, NWT, 1985<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n
\nby Robert Bothwell, University of Toronto<\/span>
\nThe Official History of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.<\/small>
\n(commissioned by Eldorado)<\/small>
\nU. of T. Press, Toronto, 1984<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n
\nby Wilfrid J. Eggleston<\/span>
\nThe Official History of
\nAtomic Energy of Canada Ltd.<\/small>
\n(commissioned by AECL)<\/small>
\nClarke Irwin & Co., Toronto, 1965.<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n
\nby Vincent G. Jones<\/span>
\nSeries: US Army in WWII Special Studies<\/small>
\nCenter of Military History, US Army<\/small>
\nWashington, D.C., 1985<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n
\nConnecting the Cold War
\nNuclear Productions Processes
\nTo Their Environmental Consequences<\/span>
\nU.S. Department of Energy
\nOffice of Environmental Management<\/small>
\nChapter 2:
\nNuclear Weapons Production
\nProcesses and History<\/small>
\nWashington, D.C., January, 1997<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n
\nby William Chenoweth<\/span>
\nposted on the Wyoming Mining Association web site<\/small>
\nwww.tcd.net\/~wma\/uranium\/art194.html<\/small>
\nPaydirt, January, 1998.<\/span><\/small><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n at the site of the original Eldorado Mine prepared by George Woolett <\/p>\n <\/p>\n text engraved on a bronze plaque attached to a five-foot tall concrete cairn Port Radium, Northwest Territories, “The mine was\u00a0the only source of radium outside of the Belgian Congo.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Because of the high demand for radium for use in medical treatment, this source was of\u00a0world significance<\/span><\/b>.<\/p>\n “The Eldorado Mine was\u00a0closed in 1940<\/span><\/b>\u00a0due to World War II and an over-supply of radium.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The official history of Eldorado Nuclear Ltd., <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/li>\n <\/p>\n As\u00a0minister responsible for Canada’s part of the allied atomic project<\/span><\/b>, Howe and his lieutenant, C. J. Mackenzie, had drafted a statement… in which the minister said that<\/span>“it is a distinct pleasure for me to announce that\u00a0Canadian scientists have played an intimate part, and have been associated in an effective way<\/span><\/b>\u00a0with this great scientific development.”<\/p>\n From the Interlude, “War Into Cold War”, p. 157<\/p>\n <\/li>\n From the Interlude, “War Into Cold War”, p. 159<\/p>\n from Chapter 3: From Radium to Uranium<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n <\/li>\n <\/p>\n <\/li>\nExcerpts from:<\/i><\/h3>\n
Port Radium Memorial<\/span><\/h2>\n
text engraved on a bronze plaque
\nattached to a five-foot tall concrete cairn<\/span><\/h3>\n
\non the Eastern Shore of Great Bear Lake<\/p>\nPort Radium, Northwest Territories,<\/h4>\n
\nfor Echo Bay Mines, 1985<\/p>\n<\/div>\nfrom\u00a0Port Radium Memorial<\/span><\/big><\/h5>\n
\u00a0<\/center><\/p>\n
\nat the site of the original Eldorado Mine on the Eastern Shore of Great Bear Lake<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\nprepared by George Woolett for Echo Bay Mines in 1985<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nExcerpts from:<\/i><\/h3>\n
\nEldorado:
\nCanada’s National Uranium Company<\/small><\/span><\/h2>\nby Robert Bothwell<\/span><\/h3>\n
\ncommissioned by Eldorado Nuclear Ltd.<\/span><\/p>\nUniversity of Toronto Press
\nToronto, 1984<\/h4>\n<\/div>\nfrom\u00a0Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/span><\/big><\/h4>\n
\u00a0<\/center>
\nThe Honourable C. D. Howe<\/h4>\n
\n\u00a0<\/center>
\nRemoving ore from the Great Bear Lake mine, mid-1930s<\/h4>\n
\n<\/p>\nFlying radium and silver concentrates in winter to railhead<\/h4>\n
\n<\/p>\nOne of Eldorado’s ore-laden barge convoys.<\/h4>\n
\nphoto credits: Eldorado Resources Limited
\nin\u00a0Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company<\/i><\/h4>\n
\n