The townsite of Tungsten (shown as Cantung on some maps) is located at

Cantung Mine Cantung Mine is a tungsten producer in the Nahanni area of the Northwest Territories, Canada, located northeast of Watson Lake in the Flat River Valley of the Selwyn Range close to the Yukon border. Tungsten was originally discovered in the ar ...

in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. It is accessible from Watson Lake,

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

via the Nahanni Range Road.

History

Tungsten was built in 1961 and the

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

mine went into operation in 1962 as a large

open-pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ...

in the Mackenzie Mountains. It originally consisted of several small

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

houses. Total population of Tungsten during the 1960s was approximately 120 persons, including about 27 families. In 1968 families were housed in 28 units (single and duplex housing). Because of extremely good wages and benefits, turnover rates for the entire operation were quite low. Families benefited from the K-8 Grade school, and later a K-9 system. During the summer months, because of the open pit operation, manpower and townsite population grew to 160. In the mid-1970s, the townsite expanded to include a trailer court, three condominiums, bunkhouse trailers, and in 1982, a modern recreation complex. An 80-man bunkhouse was added in 1983. The town and mine were serviced by an all-weather

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

to Watson Lake and the, still open,

Tungsten (Cantung) Airport Tungsten (Cantung) Airport serves the Cantung Mine and is located near Tungsten, Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2 ...

, with a single runway measuring . In 1979 the estimated population had reached 506, of whom 200 were employees. By the fall of 1982, there were 450 residents and about 100 children were enrolled at Tungsten School. The community also had a public telephone exchange operated by Northwestel: area code 403, prefix 777. By 1986, it was estimated that only 280 people were living at Tungsten. The

closed in May 1986, and the townsite was closed. A year or two later, the telephone exchange, with only a handful of active lines on obsolescent electromechanical equipment, was shut down. Although the mine reopened in 2002, the nature of the mine had changed so that there was no longer an operating townsite with families. The mine closed again in 2003. Following an investment by the Yukon based Kaska Dena Council in December 2004 the mine was reopened in 2005. The original bungalow houses remain to this day, along with the school, and stand as a monument to a time when town life was busy with local residents.

Geography

The community had the distinction of being the only place in the Northwest Territories that was on Pacific Time (used in Yukon) rather than Mountain Time.

Climate

Tungsten has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

( Dfc) with long, severely cold winters and short but mild and rainy summers.

References

External links

Ghost towns in the Northwest Territories Mining communities in the Northwest Territories {{Canada-ghost-town-stub 1961 establishments in the Northwest Territories Populated places established in 1961

History

Geography

Climate

See also

References

External links