Gold discovery , 1909 In the very late 19th century, Ignace Tonené, chief of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai community, discovered gold ore on the side of Larder Lake. Although Tonené properly registered his staking claims, the registration was not respected, and European settlers
jumped his claim, registering it again in their name. Kerr was a 1903 graduate of the
University of Toronto who had spent one week of geological mapping as an assistant at the
Geological Survey of Canada. Kerr shared his analysis with William Addison, who visited the area in 1906 and discovered Dr Reddick of Ottawa already surveying it.
Start of mining The ownership of the mine passed between three companies, the third being Associated Goldfields Limited, The mill was upgraded to be able to process 1,090 tons per day in 1939, and after significantly more gold was discovered at 1,000 feet depth in 1940, the mill was further upgraded to 1,725 tons per day in 1941.
Workers and unionisation The mine employed 2,500 people at its peak. The ''Kerr-Addison Employees's Association'' union was formed in 1943. The Kerr-Addison union became affiliated with the Canadian National Federation of Independent Union in 1981 and in 1989 merged with
United Steelworkers of America to become USWA Local 9283.
Late 20th-century to early 21st-century Gold prices became deregulated and rose from $35 per ounce in 1971 to $800 per ounce in 1980. Shortly after, the global gold price sharply dropped, forcing Golden Shield into bankruptcy in 1989. During its ownership, the
Ontario Ministry of the Environment fined Deak Resources $50,000 due to polluting effluent discharged into a waterway from the mine's Mill. Pollutants included heavy metals and
cyanide. In 1994, a study by
Environment Canada documented "high concentrates" of nickel, gold, copper, lead and zinc in Larder Lake. In early 1997 McGarry township instructed bailiffs to seize assets at the mine and sell them to raise funds for unpaid taxes. Gwen Resources, AJ Perron Gold Corporation, GSR Mining Corporation and Kerr JEX Corporation, the four companies that owned the mine, threatened litigation against the township. Prior to the bailiffs action, the mine owed $2.1 million of realty taxes and $50,000 of business taxes. AJ Perron, the successor Deak Resources was delisted in 1998. In 2010, Armistice Resources Corporation, who already owned the neighboring McGarry Mine, bought the Kerr-Addison Mine, and in 2011 announced plans to drill for more gold. The
Ontario Government instructed Armistice Resources to decommission the site, but they refused and took their disagreement to an environmental and land tribunal in 2013. They argued that they did not need to submit a mine closure plan as they were not the surface owner, as defined in the Mining Act.Armistice Resources changed their name to Kerr Mines Inc in 2014 and changed their
Toronto Stock Exchange symbol to TSX:KER. In 2014, Kerr Mines sold the Kerr-Addison Mine, the adjoining McGarry Mine and associated mining claims, to Golden Candle Limited for $11 million. Kerr Mines later became Arizona Gold. In 2016, Michael Berns, the owner of Gold Candle Ltd submitted an affidavit to court stating that dissolved owners of the surface rights (GSR/Deak and AJ Perron) had failed to remediate the site. As of 2021, Gold Candle Ltd owned 100 percent of the mine. == See also ==