Ophir Mine

During the late 1800’s, copper mining was underway in Bruce Mines, Ontario. That would all change in November of 1889 when a farmer named William Moor made a gold discovery while prospecting atop a mountain ridge above Lake Ickta (now Havilah Lake).

The lot on which Moor made the original gold discovery may have belonged to his neighbour, Alexander Murray. Moor’s gold find resulted in a land ownership dispute that lasted until 1892 when American investors organized the Ophir Gold Mining Company and settled the dispute by purchasing the land.

The Ophir Gold Mining Company began mining in 1893. They sank two shafts and constructed a small village consisting of a manager's house, cookhouse and dining room, bunkhouses, a store, blacksmith and other storehouses.

In 1906 the mine was under management by S.H. Bryant and Kenneth MacKenzie.

Mining continued until 1909 when the mine closed due to falling gold prices and a mining accident that resulted in a fatality. The mine remained closed until 1910 when operations resumed once again and the name of the mine and lake was changed to Havilah. The revival of the mine was short lived as it closed the following year. By 1916 the town site was deserted.

The mine ended up producing 2489 tons of ore worth $8459.

Legend has it that five men died in a shaft collapse and their bodies were never retrieved.

In 1938, a mining engineer named Mr. Harding and a drill operator named Mr. Bartlett performed diamond drilling. They found a considerable amount of gold, but at that time gold was not in as much demand as base metals.

The mine was unsuccessfully reopened in the early 1980’s.

Location: Take Highway 17 West towards Elliot Lake. You will pass Nesterville, Spragge and Blind River. Turn north onto Highway 638 (the old 561) at Bruce Mines. 25 km up the road you will come to the intersection of Highways 638 North and West. West heads to Leeburn, straight heads to cottage country.

Google map centered on Havilah Lake: http://maps.google.com/?q=46.47799,-83.702409&t=h&z=14&om=1

Google map centered on Ophir: http://maps.google.com/?q=46.463333,-83.728889&t=h&z=14&om=1