From the outside, there is no indication that the plant is abandoned. No window is doomed and there is no "for sale" sign. Even the structure of the building is still in very good condition. I myself had doubts when I heard about it for the first...
It takes a lot of motivation to get to this old mine and foundry abandoned since 2002. For it must be admitted that we are rather far from everything in this distant municipality of 650 inhabitants. Moreover, if this village exists, it is above all because of this deposit of copper discovered in 1921 and which led in the 1950s to the commissioning of the factory.
When the mine and the smelter roll at full capacity in the 1970s, there were more than 5,000 people in the city who depended almost exclusively on mining activities.
Then, in 1999, the shock: the open-pit mine close its doors and led to the loss of hundreds of jobs. Three years later, the coup de grace is given with the closing of the foundry. 300 employees lose their jobs and from then on, it is the disorganization. The city empties fastly, leaving behind those who can not leave. The value of houses fall and a referendum is organized in order to close the city. Despite a 65% proportion in favor of the closure and compensation of its citizens, the provincial government refuses to close the city. The municipality then undertakes its (timid) recovery plan based on tourism and wind energy.
Today, several houses are abandoned and the value of those on the sale market are sold for a morsel of bread: $ 40,000 for a well-maintained house built in 1958 with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage and a small land of 5,500 square feet (511 sqm). You can even find a cheaper one at $ 13,000 by digging a bit.
Although the soils of the former mine have been decontaminated at a cost of $ 116 million, there has not been much action overthere since 2002. While some hangars are now used as temporary recycling sites, the rest of the site is left to itself.
A real scar in the landscape, the mine and its mounds of tailings looks like Mars whereas almost nothing grows on these artificial mountains of a hundred meters high.
From the outside, there is no indication that the plant is abandoned. No window is doomed and there is no "for sale" sign. Even the structure of the building is still in very good condition. I myself had doubts when I heard about it for the first...
A true emblem of the Old Port of Montreal, it is difficult to miss the Silo # 5, a gigantic concrete structure south of McGill Street. The complex consists of 206 silos and an amalgam of buildings built over a period of more than fifty years,...
This is one of the oldest stationery in Quebec. Founded in 1851 by a american businessman, the company is composed of a half-dozen buildings on a fifteen hectares site. Saying that the site is large is an understatement, not only because it has a...
The use of asbestos by man does not date from yesterday. Already, more than 2000 years ago, the Greeks used in making funeral clothes. Its name comes from its property to withstand fire: άσβεστος (asbestos, meaning "indestructible").
Its...