The old-timers still talk about the fist-sized gold clumps they pulled out of the Bralorne and Pioneer mines in their heyday in the 1930s.
Now a Vancouver company is hoping its motherlode will come from the same source as it readies itself to re-open the Bralorne mine, closed since 1971, in the coming weeks.
"We will start out slowly," said Louis Wolfin, president of Bralorne-Pioneer Gold Mines Ltd.
"Full operation won’t be until next year but we are hoping to get it up and running and fine-tune it to make it a proper operation by November."
Wolfin has been waiting since 1995 to re-open the mine. The delay has been mainly due to the low value of gold.
But now with a resurgence in the price of gold and modern technology Wolfin hopes to squeeze enough profit out of the mine to open it and keep it going.
Gold had slumped to $250 per ounce in the late 1990s but since then it has come back to a more traditional values, even reaching a high of $390.
That’s caused a ripple effect across Canada and around the world.
"When gold was at $250 it simply was uneconomic to mine gold for a lot of the industry," said mining analyst Dorothy Atkinson at Bolder Investment Partners Inc.
"The industry was simply closed down at those prices.
"But as the prices rebound it has become a bit more sensible to go ahead.
"I think most people at this time anticipate that gold will have further strengths. That is mainly based on a weakening of the US dollar, a demand for diversification of assets, and when (investors are) looking around to see what other assets to hold other than currency gold pops back onto the radar screen.
"Certainly in Canada there has been a huge revival."
Mining is a $4 billion industry according to the Mining Association of British Columbia. And while net incomes increased last year and total payments to the government exceeded $333 million in 2002, both gross and net revenues are down.
There are fewer people working in the industry, capital expenditures are down, fewer products were shipped in 2002 than the previous years and there are fewer operating mines left in B.C. and no new mines opened last year.
In fact no new mines have opened since 1998.
But that is set to change if the Bralorne mine comes on line in the coming months.
Currently Bralorne-Pioneer Mines has several specialists at the site north of Pemberton.
They are working on the mill, used to crush the rocks from the mine to find the gold, to ensure that start up is smooth. It’s expected the mine will employ 50 to 100 people when it is in full operation.
"There are quite a number of miners living there and we would like to utilize them if they are interested and capable and have all of the proper qualifications to do all of this work," said Wolfin.
Permits are in place and environmental plans to deal with the toxic fallout of the mine are ready to go.
"We have through our permits designated an area for the tailings and this will be completed," said Wolfin.
He believes there is still a lot of gold in the area and he expects it will cost about $235 US to produce an ounce of bullion initially. That’s expected to drop to $175 US in 2004.
Wolfin expects about 150 tons of ore per day to come out of the mine initially. That will grow to about 500 tons as the mine moves to full capacity.
Wolfin isn’t the only one excited about the prospect of the mine re-opening.
"The community is just shaking with anticipation," said Fred Chapman, owner of Sloanview Services in Bralorne.
"It will be good for the community because of the economic spin-offs."
Bralorne has seen better days. But Chapman said the area has a lot going for it, it’s just that many travellers aren’t aware of what it has to offer.
"The hunting and fishing is great," said Chapman.
"The scenery is fantastic. We have 10,000-foot mountains around here. We are working on restoring historic sites, there is even a bakery, which used to produce 5,000 loaves a week ready to go.
"It would really expose our area to much needed tourism.
"If the gold starts going and the spin-offs it would make it an ideal place to live."
Another plus in the plan, said Chapman, is the boost the mine will give to infrastructure.
It’s likely the Hurley Road, which is only maintained in the summer, will have more attention paid to it when the mine is up and running.
"Gold tales" of the mines are still told in the area with old-timers claiming to have found clumps of gold the size of a man’s fist at the Bralorne and Pioneer mines.
In its glory days the two mines supported a town of 10,000 with schools, banks and even a bowling alley.
Low gold prices forced the mine to shut down in 1971 but not before it had produced an astounding 4.1 million ounces of gold, which today would be worth $1.6 billion US.
