Cantung Mine is a

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

producer in the Nahanni area of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, Canada, located northeast of Watson Lake in the Flat River Valley of the Selwyn Range close to the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

border. Tungsten was originally discovered in the area in 1954 by prospectors. Cantung Mine operated from 1962 to 1986, again from 2002 to 2003, and from 2005. Production was suspended from October 2009 to October 2010. The mine owner, North American Tungsten Corporation, went bankrupt in 2015 and the mine closed in October of that year. The federal government of Canada now owns the mine and has to clean up the site. As of December, 2017, the mine remained closed, with the possibility of being opened to process a nearby lithium deposit. As of February 2019, the mine is still closed; the federal and NWT governments are trying to sell it.

1962—1986

The original company that developed the mine was Canada Tungsten Mining Corporation Limited, with ''Cantung'' being a short abbreviated form of the company name. The small community of

Tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

was established for workers and their families along with the small, still open,

Tungsten (Cantung) Airport Tungsten (Cantung) Airport serves the Cantung Mine and is located near Tungsten, Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''No ...

. It was an

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

operation until 1974 when the newly discovered underground deposit was brought to production. It closed due to low tungsten prices in 1986. It was purchased by North American Tungsten Corporation of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in 1997. Stephen Leahy, Chair and CEO, recognized the potential for Cantung tungsten production because 85% of the world's tungsten reserves are in China:

2002—2003

With higher prices in the new millennium, the new owner, North American Tungsten Corporation, reopened the mine for production in 2002. The mine again closed in 2003 when the company's creditors recalled their loans, putting the company on the verge of bankruptcy.

2005—present

After a re-finance, the mine reopened September 1, 2005. By November 2007, North American Tungsten stated that Cantung had approximately two years of tungsten reserves left, but combined with its

Mactung mine The Mactung Project is a planned open pit tungsten mine located in the Selwyn Mountains of eastern Yukon, Canada, on its border with the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du N ...

operation, the two hold 15% of the world's known tungsten. Leahy is optimistic:

References

External links

North American Tungsten
{{coord, 61, 57, 25, N, 128, 12, 10, W, type:landmark_scale:30000, display=title Tungsten mines in Canada Mines in the Northwest Territories

1962—1986

2002—2003

2005—present

References

Further reading

External links