"We built a retaining wall that was 4,000 feet long and roughly 100 feet deep and three feet wide. . . it was something we won awards for!"

I was one of the few people who saw the first ship come in and the last ship leave, and many hardships in between! I was there for thirty years. Dick Robertson and I had the longest stay at the mine.

It was a great place to work, there was something magic about it.

It was a mixture of a very talented, very innovative people with fresh ideas; they faced many challenges, which they tackled with enthusiasm.

Brian's Story

Island Copper led the way with innovations that have changed mining today. Computer controls were adopted at the mills during the1970’s.

We also introduced the first large mobile crusher, who processed up to 5,000 tonnes per hour; we moved 220,000 tonnes per day. We needed something less costly than other equipment and we needed a crusher in the bottom of the pit, so we had it fabricated in Germany by Krupp Industries and barged all the way from Germany to Island Copper. From design to being on-site took 18 months. It was 72 feet high, a seven-story building with great big caterpillar tracks on it, and we had to get the space shuttle equipment from the US to move it.

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