Thursday, July 15

We left Parry Sound and gone up to Sudbury, which will probably, be the northernmost point on this trip. I have known Sudbury as the region where most of the world’s nickel comes from. We used an extensive quantity of nickel in the expanded metal we made, both pure, and in alloys such as stainless steel. In preparing for this trip, I found that INCO, the large Company that mined and processed most of Sudbury’s Ni, had created a visitor center, and Sudbury had created a Science Center. So I put it on our strong maybe list. When we first got to Canada, we got a lot if info from the visitor center at the entrance point, and Sudbury looked interesting. Thanks to our geology specialist for significant assistance in the next two days.

So, we left the beautiful, tall, majestic pines of the southern Canadian Shield, and ventured north. As we got closer and closer to Sudbury, we noticed a tremendous change in the forest and the geology. The forest changed from the pines and hardwoods to which we had become accustomed, to relatively young white birch, and half of them were just broken and dead. The geology, was mostly indistinguishable metamorphic rock with a thin soil on top. The appearance of the landscape certainly was not attractive.

There are few campgrounds in Sudbury, and ours was sandwiched between the main road and Lake Richard. We were packed in with other campers. We were not staying long, and our plans were to spend time in the centers, so it was OK. We had made a trip to the Sudbury visitor center, and learned a little more. We had heard about a meteor that struck Sudbury, and gradually over the next two days we learned a lot more, explaining what we had seen, both above and below ground.

We decided to go to the INCO center first, now called Dynamic Earth. It was built in the 60s as an example mine for tours and a historical perspective of how mining was done. When it was built, a huge replica of a Canadian nickel was created , of stainless steel, to mark the location and represent the contribution nickel made to the Canadian economy. In the 80s, the site was taken over by Science North, the science museum in town, improved and renamed. The nickel, too, has been refurbished and stands as probably the most notable landmark in Sudbury. At Dynamic Earth we learned how the meteor literally, and figuratively, impacted Sudbury. It was large, about 6-7 miles around, and struck around 2 billion years ago. It created a crater, now referred to as the Sudbury Basin, about 60 miles in diameter, and miles deep. When the meteor struck, it hit with such force and heat that it brought together the right atomic structures to create concentrations of rock containing nickel, copper, silver, and platinum. The most prevalent are nickel and copper and there have been mines and smelters in Sudbury for over a hundred years now. They later began to recover the other, less common metals.

When we arrived at Dynamic Earth we went on a tour of the “mine.” We saw a short video and then were transported seven stories underground to an area where we were given hard hats. We then entered an airlock like those at the real mine. We were guided by a young woman who had just graduated from high school, and wants to be a geologist when she grows up. She led us through a section of the mine that showed mining practices when nickel was first mined. The men, boys and animals performed all the drilling and hauling tasks during this time period. The next section of mine we went through showed mining once mines were electrified and powered tools took over a lot of the brute work. Our guide showed us a safety chamber and how they function. She then showed us the modern section of the mine with some of the smaller pieces of mining equipment. Most of today’s equipment is too large to fit in the demonstration mine. It was an interesting tour.

Through a number of videos, multimedia and hands on displays at Dynamic Earth, we learned about the process of smelting, the gasses it gives off and the tremendous slag piles created as a byproduct. The museum did a terrific job of presenting the sciences related to the entire process. All over the entire museum, kids were actively engaged in learning – and loving it! The play area consisted of a three levels, each representing different levels of the mine. The kids could “blast” the rock, dump it down a chute to the bottom of the mine to be picked up by someone else in a wheelbarrow, and sent to the surface in a kid-powered vertical conveyor belt. There were also lab setups where one could use scientific comparisons, such as hardness, relative density, etc to determine the type of rock. One area that seemed to be of particular interest to males of all ages was one where you could, in virtual reality, operate various kinds of mining equipment. You could watch the screen to see how you were doing and it provided cues for successful operation. Many of the pieces of real mining equipment are now being remotely operated to ensure greater safety in the mines.

The museum was definitely worth the four or so hours we spent there. It was surprising to find out that such a gem is only open half the year. I guess there must be enough interest in snowmobiling and other winter sports that they can’t justify keeping it open during the winter.