I was up at Newboro, Ontario, Canada for 3 days of fishing with my oldest son and his son. I decided to fish on Friday and Sunday that would leave me Saturday for some exploring and collecting. The fishing was great and so was the collecting. I missed fishing on Sunday morning to attend church, my son and his son declined to join me. In the afternoon we all fished and God seemed to shine down more on me and presented me with about 50 fish of varying types. I told my son and grandson they should have went to Mass with me, then they would have caught more fish. We kept a few to clean and bring home as evidence that we really did go fishing but released most of the bigger ones.

I visited The Long Lake Zinc mine on Saturday May 28, 2005. After wondering around for a while and asking locals if they knew anything about the mine I found a nice gentleman who was working on his lawn. He came down to talk to me when he saw I stopped by his driveway. He not only knew about the mine but also who owned it.

Long Lake Mine (Richardson Zinc Mine; Lynx Mine), Long Lake Village, Olden Township, Frontenac Co., Ontario, Canada. The mine opened about 1900 and closed 1915. Reopened and closed during the 1970's.

The mine is located about 9 km northwest of Parham on Long Lake Road. Three tenths of a mile West from the intersection of Long Lake and Babcock road. Mr. Young, the owner, lives just past the intersection on the East side on Elgin Young Road. He lives in the white house just past the intersection.

I asked him for permission to collect and he graciously gave me directions and permission to collect all I wished. I left him and made my way to the mine. It was so hot I started stripping off my winter clothes that were required earlier in the day. The white rock from the dumps reflected back the sun’s rays and made it all the more hotter. I explored the mine area and picked up about 4 back packs of rocks for later examination. It was too bright out to use my Ultraviolet lamp so I had no idea of what might be a good candidate for the lamp. Did I mention these rocks turn pretty colors in the dark when you shine the right light source on them?

I came across a huge boulder of pink and gray Calcite/Feldspar that I mentally marked for later pounding. I didn’t think I could manage a ton of rock on my back in this heat. Maybe if it was cooler I could get a ½ ton piece. I moved on to another area and found some small and large boulders of black and brown nature. I decided to also mark then for later investigation. I continued to explore more of the mine dumps and pick up smaller pieces of interest. I noticed that my pack was getting awfully heavy all of a sudden and decided to make a trip back to the SUV for some needed water and to drop off my findings.

After a good few drinks, and filling up my flask to take with me, I headed back into the mine site. Now I checked out the area where the actual mine used to be. It’s filled with mine waste and water now and is not a problem. I took a few samples from this area and found out my pack was filled again. Back to the SUV for a half a sandwich and more water, did I say how hot it felt?.

After a break I went back with my 5 pounder hammer to break some rock. I now noticed that I hadn’t brought my camera in either of the last 3 times and made a mental hint to do so before I left. I broke a few boulders of Calcite and Feldspar and moved on to the darker bunch. I tried to lift one up and discovered they didn’t want to leave the place they were laying. I thought someone had super glued them to the ground. They were extremely heavy. I broke one and discovered it was made of solid Pyrite . I had to get a large one back to the SUV and decided to leave the biggest for the trip back after taking pictures. Back to the SUV for a rest, drink of more water and my camera.

After another short rest and water stop I took another empty pack and my camera back for my final trip. I took some pictures of different angles of the dumps and the old mine area and on the way out picked up a big piece of metals bearing boulder for the trip back to the SUV.

I packed up all my goodies and my few tools and headed out to thank Mr. Young for letting me collect and to show him what I collected. We talked for another ½ hour until his wife came back with the weeks groceries and he had to leave me to help out. He informed me of the history of the mine, what was taken from the mine etc. We had a great chat and I learned lots of new information on the area and incites into the Canadian mining world. He even presented me with a piece of the original Vein Zinc material. He informed me that the vein was only about 4 feet around and that’s all they kept. He said there was also some Gold in the rock but not enough to make it worth mining. They left everything else on the numerous dumps surrounding the mine and only took the rich Zinc material. I was thankful for this mining method.

Now I have two buckets filled to the brim with new minerals to identify and examine. I brought back a few “biggies” for the rock garden also. What better vacation, great fishing and rocks, then throw in 3 days with my grandson and my oldest son and that qualifies for “Priceless”. When I got home my youngest son was visiting with one of my granddaughters. I had to ask if I missed Father’s day. My other son gets married the day before Father’s day and we are all staying in a grand hotel for the weekend. Did I mention it’s close to another of my favorite rock spots. I may just slip out and do some rock collecting if they don’t watch me closely.