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The item is a reel of film footage consisting of ten short reels of varying length assembled onto one roll. It mainly depicts subjects related to Consolidated Mining staff and operations across Canada. Notes (from original film boxes): 1. Sulphur experiment. 2. Quebec 1933 or 1934. 3. Montreal and Quebec, [19]34 -- "only fair". 4. Flin Flon 1934. 5. Edmonton to Fort Rae by plane -- [19]35 or 36. 6. Trip to Great Bear and back, 1935 or 1936. 7. Vancouver and Big Missouri, 1937. (black & white) 8. Kimberley football and Montgomery's and Lindsay's, 1934. 9. Chemists in Trail; Trail picnic 1937. 10. Ed Montgomery, P. Wetmore in N.S. [Nova Scotia?] -- Bingay's house in Vanc[ouver] -- Tadanac Hall, also Sir Colin Fraser.

The item is a print of an industrial film by Lew Parry. It contains an overview of the mining industry of British Columbia and the Yukon. Sequences include: prospecting; claim staking; the use of helicopters; core sampling; construction of mine access roads; planning the mining of an ore body; lead-zinc mining operations in the Sullivan Mine; processing of ore by crushers, ball mills and flotation cells; residential scenes in mining towns (Fraser Lake, Pine Point, Ashcroft); Cominco smelter at Trail; contribution to steel industry (pig iron and coke); training of mining technicians at BCIT; role of the BC & Yukon Chamber of Mines, including its Prospectors' Mining School; Vancouver and Port Moody dockside scenes showing concentrates, coal and ingots being loaded.

The fonds consists of the records of Cominco Ltd., including those created under its previous name, the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited. Most of the records were selected by Cominco from its offices in Vancouver and Trail, B.C.

The fonds includes textual records, approximately 8700 photographs, maps, films and sound recordings which include oral histories with former employees. The records document the industrial activities, personnel, and the social history of the communities where the company was active.

Documentary forms include but are not limited to: correspondence; photographs; annual reports; news clippings and scrapbooks; lab reports; payroll records; journals, ledgers, cash books and other financial records; sound recordings of interviews, oral histories and radio broadcasts; transcripts connected with the Cominco oral history project; films (including those of mining operations); maps; informational publications, pamphlets and brochures about the company; engineering and geological reports; subdivision plans and city plans; property/lot plans; and the president's files.

Subject matter includes topics such as mineral exploration, mining, smelting, fertilizer production, research and development, legal matters, finance, personnel and labour relations, public relations and advertising, company history and environmental pollution.

Topics and locations reflected in the records include but are not limited to: Trail area operations at Warfield and Tadanac; the Sullivan mine at Kimberley; the Bluebell mine and concentrator at Riondel, B.C.; the Con mine in Yellowknife, N.W.T.; the H.B. mine and concentrator at Salmo, B.C.; Calgary facilities for production of ammonia, ammonium nitrate and urea; Benson Lake (Vancouver Island) mine and concentrator; the mercury mine at Pinchi Lake, B.C.; the Box mine at Goldfields (Athabaska Lake) Saskatchewan; Wedge copper mine at Newcastle, New Brunswick; Pacific Coast Terminals Limited operations in warehousing, docking, loading and shipping at New Westminster and Port Moody, B.C.

The records document Cominco’s operations in fields such as zinc die casting through the purchase of National Hardware Specialties Limited and its plant in Dresden, Ontario. The records reflect the continuing research and development carried out at Trail, and, after the mid-1960s, at the new research centre built at Sheridan Park, Ontario.

Records of subsidiaries and affiliates include those of operations in the United States and overseas. These include but are not limited to: Cominco Products, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary created to carry out fertilizer warehousing, liquid fertilizer conversion and product marketing at Spokane, Washington; the development of phosphate rock mining interests in Montana; the Magmont lead mine and concentrator at Bixby, Missouri; Rubiales mine, Lugo Province, Spain; the Black Angel mine and concentrator, Marmorilik Fjord, Greenland; and Cominco Binani Zinc Limited (CBZL) in India.

Photographs and textual records document the important role played by Cominco, beginning in the 1920s, in exploring the northern regions of the four western provinces and the Northwest Territories. The company pioneered aircraft prospecting which led to the discovery of gold, uranium, oil and copper. Exploration by Cominco influenced settlement patterns and laid the foundation for the creation of an aviation service in northern Canada.

The fonds also consists of records of Cominco’s participation in the Manhattan Project's heavy water production program during World War II. Textual records are contained in series MS-2500. Photographs are contained in series MS-3176, consisting of images which include: primary plant and secondary cell plant, (including construction of, starting in November 1942); the oxygen stripper tower, booster room, cooling tower, boiler plant, and evaporator building. See the files referring to Project 9, Heavy Water, No. 9 Project, or P-9 Project.

Other notable records include those concerning the international dispute between Canada and the United States over pollution from the Trail smelter and its effects on the agricultural lands in the U.S. Cominco was involved in an international tribunal in 1932 (Trail smelter dispute) as a consequence of sulphur-bearing smoke damage to crops. See file of negative filmstrips titled Smoke Control – Mathews films Tribunal Case 1932 [photographs]. Among other topics the photographs appear to include images of areas in Idaho and Washington State. They are possibly connected with MS-2500, box 457, file 1, “Survey of agricultural conditions (Mathews) - appendix D8”, dated 1935.

The fonds also consists of records of subsidiaries, affiliates, and predecessor companies, including the West Kootenay Power and Light Company Ltd. and the Canadian North-eastern Railway Company (previously Portland Canal Short Line Railway).

The fonds consists of the following six series: MS-2500 Cominco selected records; MS-3176 Cominco photographs; AAAA1498 Cominco films; AAAA1499 Cominco sound recordings; MS-0888 Summary of the history of Cominco; MS-0015 Cominco papers.

The series consists of photographs which document Cominco’s industrial activities in British Columbia, across Canada, and internationally. It also documents the social and cultural life of the communities where the company was active, and the staff who worked for the company.

Predominant subjects of the records include the following: industrial operations and town scenes at locations including Trail, Kimberley, Riondel (Bluebell mine), Yellowknife (Con mine), Pinchi Lake, Salmo (HB mine), New Brunswick (Wedge mine), and Saskatchewan (Box mine); early exploration in the north; research and development on products; fertilizer, ammonia and potash production; personnel, particularly senior staff and directors, with biographies; company housing; U.S. and overseas industrial operations; hydro-electric power production and plants; Project 9 (Heavy Water or No. 9 Project or P-9 Project). As this list is not exhaustive, the file list should be consulted for details on subject matter of the records.

The approximate date range of the photographs is 1900 to 1980. However, few records exist prior to the 1920s; and, with a few exceptions, those that pre-date the 1920s are inferior copies of photographic prints.

The series consists primarily of black and white prints but also includes negatives, transparencies, (black and white and colour), and a small number of glass lantern slides. The series also consists of a small amount of textual material, including correspondence, press releases, descriptive information on index cards, and biographical writing on senior staff, company directors and other personnel records.

Many of the photographs were used by Cominco’s public relations and advertising staff. The company produced a periodical which had numerous name changes, including “Cominco Magazine” and “the Orbit.” The photographs were used in the production of the magazine, and for press releases, newsletters, and information booklets and brochures about Cominco.

Most of the records appear to have been maintained by Cominco in a photo library and they are marked with the creator’s classification codes and numbers. For the most part the meanings of these codes are uncertain; meanings can sometimes be inferred. Sometimes meanings are made explicit; for example, “MMP” for Miscellaneous Mines and Projects.

The item is an industrial film demonstrating the integrated nature of the various Cominco operations. Cominco's operations in Trail and Kimberley are discussed from the viewpoint of various Cominco employees. Includes footage of: Sullivan Mine; refining and smelting processes for lead, zinc, silver; power plant on Kootenay River; research and development; use of metals refined; manufacture of fertilizer from smelter emissions; mine exploration and prospecting across Canada; facilities, accommodations and recreational activities [e.g. hockey, Kimberley Dynamiters, etc.] in communities around the plants. Also includes sequences on a fertilizer plant in Calgary (Alberta Nitrogen Dept.) and mining at Yellowknife, N.W.T.

The item is an industrial film print made ca. 1977 from footage originally shot between 1934 and 1936. The compilation shows the company's mining, smelting and related operations in southeastern British Columbia including: the Sullivan Mine and concentrator at Kimberley; a power plant on the Kootenay River; the Trail smelter; and the fertilizer plant at Warfield.