Burchell Lake, Ontario

Burchell Lake is a ghost town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located at the southern end of Highway 802 in the Thunder Bay District.

A copper mining town which was active from 1959 to 1967, the town had approximately 400 residents at its peak. The Burchell Lake area had seen mineral exploration as early as 1902, but active development of mining operations in the area was not economically feasible until the completion of Highway 11 through the region in 1954. After a mine shaft and mill complex was built, the Coldstream Copper Mines company began building a townsite for its workers in 1959.

However, the price of copper had fallen sufficiently by 1967 that the mine was no longer profitable, and the site was shut down in 1967. In less than ten years of operations, workers at Burchell Lake had mined an estimated 102 million pounds of ore.

Burchell Lake remains one of Ontario's best-preserved ghost towns, with many of its buildings still standing at the townsite as of early 2008. A 40-year community reunion was held in nearby Shebandowan in 2007.

External links

* [http://www.ontarioabandonedplaces.com/burchell/burchell2.asp Burchell Lake] at Ontario Abandoned Places
* [http://www.burchell-lakereunion.com/ Burchell Lake Reunion]