The headframe of the Copper Cliff mine, near Sudbury, 1894.
The first large mine to go into operation in the Sudbury area, this mine was opened by the Canadian Copper Company in 1886 and produced ore for about twenty-five years. Much of the early mining was done near the surface, but by the time of this photograph, the main shaft was down over 600 feet. The production of ore from this and the seven other operating mines in the district in 1894 was about 200 thousand tons, of which about five per cent was actually nickel and copper. By 1916, the demand for nickel in military armaments had led to a fifteen-fold expansion (three million tons) in annual production.
