The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As Wayne Hardy watches the massive hoists at the Callinan Mine revolve, he can't help but reminisce. For more than six decades, those same green and red mechanisms have been the bread and butter for literally thousands of miners just like him. "This operation has been a landmark," says Hardy, the maintenance foreman. "A lot of people have come through here and worked their entire career here. Most of them left with very good thoughts and a lot of memories." And memories will be all that remain for most workers at the Callinan Mine as of tomorrow morning. In a historic move for HBMS, Callinan, formerly the South Main Mine, will go into what's known in the industry as "sunset mode." The ore hoist, believed to be the only one of its kind in the world still operating, will be completely decommissioned. The man hoist and the red Headframe, which towers between Flin Flon and Creighton, will no longer be used on a regular basis. Instead, they will remain as a back-up system to the modern 777 Mine a few kilometres away along the Perimeter Highway. Callinan will still be used to pump discharge water from the 777 operation, perhaps for several years. What sunset mode means for the roughly 220 men who work at Callinan is a transfer to 777. While there's some sadness among workers about the move, there is also a sense of amazement at how long the Callinan operation has lasted. It was back in 1941 when workers first flipped the switch on the two hoists, which were considered cutting edge at the time. Housed in a brick building a few yards south of the Headframe, the hoists were purchased from Nordberg Manufacturing Co. in Wisconsin for $309,000 each. See 'Everything' P.# Con't from P.# "Back then, the entire building and equipment was valued at $2 million," says Hardy. "In this day and age, it's incomprehensible what this would be worth." Despite their unprecedented longevity, Doug Davey, electrical maintenance foreman, believes the hoists could keep turning for years to come. "Everything is still working well," he said. "They need a little TLC, but basically they could still run for another 20 years." Davey says workers have long known that technology would one day make their workplace obsolete. However, it still came as a surprise when the date of the sunset mode was announced earlier this month. "We saw this coming, but we never expected that it was actually going to happen, but it has," he says. The new surface facilities at 777 are seen as state-of-the-art by today's standards. With a price tag of $40 million, that's to be expected. "The new hoists are the same idea as these except now they're going to be fully-automated," says Hardy. "The skips, the hoists, the conveyors and the crusher can be operated by one man on surface." The 777 facilities will also be capable of bringing more ore to the surface. Callinan set a record of about 685,000 tonnes extracted this year, while 777 is projected to bring one million tonnes in its first full year. The newer operation is also closer to the 777 ore body, meaning time will be saved. While the Callinan Mine is intriguing from a historical point of view, workers often focus on the social aspect. "Starting back in 1941, there have been three generations of people who have made their living at this mine, and a good living," comments Jim Webber, who will soon retire as the mine foreman/shaft rehab foreman. Webber and others see the Callinan operation as a close-knit workplace. An outsider gets the feeling that there is truly nowhere else these men would like to earn their living. "This mine has been a very positive mine and the guys who worked here, in most cases, would bend over backwards to make things work," says Webber. "I have a lot of good memories," adds Gordie Hayes, a 19-year employee set to retire at the end of the month. "There was a great bunch of guys to work with. You had your ups and downs, but still it was a very good place." The long-term future of the Callinan operation is uncertain. Webber said back-up systems will eventually be installed at 777, sending Callinan into a complete shutdown mode. At that point, some workers say it's anybody's guess as to what will happen to this community landmark. "A similar hoist in the United States was made into a museum, and it's a major tourist attraction," says Hardy. "You never know."
