Gilbert LaBine

Gilbert LaBine, OC (10 February 1890 – 8 June 1977) was a Canadian prospector who, in 1930, discovered radium and uranium deposits at Port Radium, Northwest Territories. He has become known as the father of Canada's uranium industry. LaBine was president of Eldorado Mining and Refining from its start in the late 1920s to 1947. He left the company (which became a crown corporation in 1944) to prospect for uranium minerals as an independent mine developer. In the 1950s he brought the Gunnar Mine to production at Uranium City, Saskatchewan.

Adelard "Gilbert" LaBine was born on a farm at Westmeath Township, Renfrew County, Ontario on 10 February 1890.:16 He studied at the Hailybury Provincial School of Mines.

Discovery

LaBine made his first prospecting strike "in some silver claims near Cobalt" in the Ottawa Valley. He incorporated his own company in 1926 under the name "Eldorado Gold Mines, Limited.":17

At the end of March 1930, LaBine traveled to Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories to do some prospecting. On 16 May, while exploring an island at Echo Bay, LaBine discovered "a very rich deposit of uranium ore.":23

LaBine stockpiled uranium ore at Great Bear Lake from the time of early production after the staking of the company's first two claims in May 1930.:23 Eldorado's pitchblende (the outcrop of rock containing uranium, cobalt, radium, silver etc.) was refined initially for radium because it traded at a high value and was used for treating cancer. Uranium was a by-product of the refining process, and the company had little use for it.:16 When radium prices dropped, operations slowed down. "By mid-1940, Eldorado's sales totaled less than $8 million and its prospects were not encouraging...In July, the mine was shut down and allowed to fill with water.":20

War effort and awards

By 1944 Canadian Munitions and Supply Minister C.D. Howe had purchased a controlling interest in and expropriated Eldorado Mining Company. Howe authorized LaBine, Eldorado's president, to begin buying the company's stock in secret. Howe considered LaBine to be both a personal friend and a good manager, assuring the British government that he "could be left in control of the company.":121

According to Peter C. Newman's analysis, financing could not have come from investors, "who would have had to be kept in ignorance of the project's significance.":164 The government had the mine immediately "drained and cemented...and employed prospectors to search for additional uranium deposits." The miners hired to reopen Eldorado were screened by the RCMP and sworn to secrecy. Given this notion it seems secrecy was conducted the same way uranium contracts had been allocated; efficiency and development of an atomic weapon took precedence over political concerns like communist attitude amongst the workforce or homage to Britain.

According to historian Robert Bothwell, Howe concluded that the issue over Canadian uranium was "of extreme, and permanent, importance. If Eldorado were seized using the government's emergency powers, the company would revert to its original ownership and control when the war emergency lapsed.":120, 121 Because Eldorado was purchased outside the scope of the War Measures Act, Canada remained in control of the mine after the war had ended. Howe left discretionary power in the hands of LaBine, who continued on as manager. LaBine was kept on as Eldorado president until 1947 and made "an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his war work.":166 On 27 June 1969, Roland Michener awarded LaBine the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada, which was his last official recognition before his death. He is also an inductee of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.