The Beginnings
One summer day in 1937, Washington Stewart from Rollingdam discovers sulphide mineralization just west of Mount Pleasant, New Brunswick. The farmer-prospector collects samples that end up being analyzed at the Canada Department of Mines laboratory, Ottawa. Test results show tin, zinc, lead, iron and copper with traces of a strange metal called indium. The results go unnoticed... for now.
Flash forward to 1953, just as the largest staking rush in Canadian history hits northern New Brunswick. Mining fever grips the province, and in 1954 geologists including John Riddle explore the Mount Pleasant area for base metals. They gather and analyze stream sediment samples, the first time in North America that scientists use such analyses as a prospecting tool.
In 1959 Riddle and others form Mount Pleasant Mines Ltd. and collect more samples. The new analyses reveal tin, tungsten, molybdenum and bismuth. This time, the test results spark investor action.
1960s to 1988
Mount Pleasant Mines Ltd. and a series of other Canadian companies investigate the Mount Pleasant property throughout the 1960s and 1970s. They focus first on the deposit's North Zone—a mainly tin-bearing area—hoping to open North America's first tin mine.
Then diamond drilling reveals a nearby tungsten-bearing area called the Fire Tower Zone. Exploration attention shifts to tungsten, but the polymetallic deposit is too complex to successfully extract tin or tungsten using technologies of the day.
But as time passes and milling methods improve, interest in Mount Pleasant intensifies. Two major companies form a joint venture in 1977: Billiton Exploration Canada Ltd. and Brunswick Tin Mines Ltd. They aim to produce tungsten from the Fire Tower Zone, and after diamond drilling reveals additional metal resources, production starts in 1983.
Mount Pleasant produces tungsten concentrate for nearly two years, although metallurgical challenges remain. The nearby community of St. George bustles with mine workers from New Brunswick and elsewhere in Canada. Then tungsten prices crash in mid-1985. The Mount Pleasant operation ceases in July 1985, having processed nearly 1 million tonnes containing about 2,000 tonnes of concentrate grading 70% WO3.
Late in 1985, Lac Minerals Inc. enters a joint venture with Billiton to develop tin at the North Zone. When tin prices tank and the International Tin Council collapses in 1988, the venture ends. The mine workings, plant and equipment at Mount Pleasant are mothballed, relocated or sold.
Development work by this date (1988) has included detailed geological mapping, sample assaying and diamond drilling. Drilling programs comprise 1,320 holes totalling nearly 159 kilometres of core. Scientists have delineated about one dozen potentially minable subzones in the North Zone and Fire Tower Zone.
1995 to Today
Adex enters the Mount Pleasant story in 1995. Adex Mining Inc. acquires Piskahegan Resources, which in 1993 obtained the mining property from Billiton and Lac Minerals Inc. For the next decade, financial challenges and low metal prices hamper many Canadian mining ventures, including that of Adex.
In 2006 the Mount Pleasant property enters what may become its Golden Age. The Company names Kabir Ahmed as its new president and CEO. Ahmed (now retired from Adex) is a veteran mining executive, experienced in guiding publicly traded companies through securities and regulatory processes in Canada and the USA. Other highly qualified engineering experts join the Adex team.
From 2007 onwards, the pace quickens as Adex clears one development goal after another throughout 2008 and into 2012. Key milestones were reached: diamond drill programs, metallurgical research, bench tests, technical reports, pilot studies, definitive feasibility studies and much more.
The outcome of these targeted actions?
One summer day in 1937, Washington Stewart from Rollingdam discovers sulphide mineralization just west of Mount Pleasant, New Brunswick. The farmer-prospector collects samples that end up being analyzed at the Canada Department of Mines laboratory, Ottawa. Test results show tin, zinc, lead, iron and copper with traces of a strange metal called indium. The results go unnoticed... for now.
Flash forward to 1953, just as the largest staking rush in Canadian history hits northern New Brunswick. Mining fever grips the province, and in 1954 geologists including John Riddle explore the Mount Pleasant area for base metals. They gather and analyze stream sediment samples, the first time in North America that scientists use such analyses as a prospecting tool.
In 1959 Riddle and others form Mount Pleasant Mines Ltd. and collect more samples. The new analyses reveal tin, tungsten, molybdenum and bismuth. This time, the test results spark investor action.
1960s to 1988
Mount Pleasant Mines Ltd. and a series of other Canadian companies investigate the Mount Pleasant property throughout the 1960s and 1970s. They focus first on the deposit's North Zone—a mainly tin-bearing area—hoping to open North America's first tin mine.
Then diamond drilling reveals a nearby tungsten-bearing area called the Fire Tower Zone. Exploration attention shifts to tungsten, but the polymetallic deposit is too complex to successfully extract tin or tungsten using technologies of the day.
But as time passes and milling methods improve, interest in Mount Pleasant intensifies. Two major companies form a joint venture in 1977: Billiton Exploration Canada Ltd. and Brunswick Tin Mines Ltd. They aim to produce tungsten from the Fire Tower Zone, and after diamond drilling reveals additional metal resources, production starts in 1983.
Mount Pleasant produces tungsten concentrate for nearly two years, although metallurgical challenges remain. The nearby community of St. George bustles with mine workers from New Brunswick and elsewhere in Canada. Then tungsten prices crash in mid-1985. The Mount Pleasant operation ceases in July 1985, having processed nearly 1 million tonnes containing about 2,000 tonnes of concentrate grading 70% WO3.
Late in 1985, Lac Minerals Inc. enters a joint venture with Billiton to develop tin at the North Zone. When tin prices tank and the International Tin Council collapses in 1988, the venture ends. The mine workings, plant and equipment at Mount Pleasant are mothballed, relocated or sold.
Development work by this date (1988) has included detailed geological mapping, sample assaying and diamond drilling. Drilling programs comprise 1,320 holes totalling nearly 159 kilometres of core. Scientists have delineated about one dozen potentially minable subzones in the North Zone and Fire Tower Zone.
1995 to Today
Adex enters the Mount Pleasant story in 1995. Adex Mining Inc. acquires Piskahegan Resources, which in 1993 obtained the mining property from Billiton and Lac Minerals Inc. For the next decade, financial challenges and low metal prices hamper many Canadian mining ventures, including that of Adex.
In 2006 the Mount Pleasant property enters what may become its Golden Age. The Company names Kabir Ahmed as its new president and CEO. Ahmed (now retired from Adex) is a veteran mining executive, experienced in guiding publicly traded companies through securities and regulatory processes in Canada and the USA. Other highly qualified engineering experts join the Adex team.
From 2007 onwards, the pace quickens as Adex clears one development goal after another throughout 2008 and into 2012. Key milestones were reached: diamond drill programs, metallurgical research, bench tests, technical reports, pilot studies, definitive feasibility studies and much more.
The outcome of these targeted actions?
- Adex can confirm that the Mount Pleasant property contains NI 43-101 mineral resource estimates.
- Adex management is continuing to further explore and develop its mining project.