Robertson Headframe

Robertson Headframe – Yellowknife, Northwest Territories – TOWERING SYMBOL OF CITY’S GOLD MINING HERITAGE THREATENED 

 

On February 9, 2015 city administrators recommended that the city stop negotiations to take over the headframe on the grounds that it could not legally accept Newman Mining's offer to transfer ownership, and that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to assess any liabilities. 

 

Why it matters

 

Erected in 1977, the Robertson Headframe is a prominent Yellowknife landmark and the tallest freestanding structure (74 metres) in the Northwest Territories. Located about a kilometre south of the city centre, it is a steel-framed tower sheathed in black and white metal with a distinctive red top. The tower was the signature structure of the Con Mine and housed a hoist for workers and ore that reached depths of almost 2,000 metres. In operation between 1938 and 2003, Con Mine was the first large-scale gold mine in the NWT and the longest lived, producing over 5 million ounces of gold or the equivalent of 10,000 bars. The Con Mine—along with the Giant Mine (1948-2004)—played an integral role in the development of Yellowknife as a modern Northern city. Visible from up to 75 kilometres away, the tower has become a city icon and functions as an important navigational landmark for small aircraft and for boats on Great Slave Lake.  

 

In the late 1980s, the Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society was granted access and use of the top of Robertson Headframe for the purposes of operating a Very High Frequency radio repeater and link radio to Fort Rae (now Behchoko), for the purposes of providing long range emergency communications. Due to the fact that the head-frame was 25 stories high, radio communication was possible as far as Hay River; 198 km across Great Slave Lake as well as a large portion of the North Slave Region. It also provided radio communications as far as 50 miles past Behchoko on the Yellowknife Hwy.  In 2003, the Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society was asked to remove all equipment as the structure was due to be shut down and demolished.The Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society would like to see this site preserved, not only as a historic landmark, but as a working communications site. According to the society, “Robertson Headframe is the best place to provide emergency communications to the region.”

 

Why it’s endangered

 

The Con Mine closed in November 2003. Its current owner, Newmount Mining, has been progressively reclaiming the industrial complex with an eye to redevelopment. The company has allocated funds to demolish the tower, but has held off demolition (estimated to cost $1.6 million) while it looks at alternatives for future use. The City of Yellowknife has been considering taking on responsibility for the tower since the mine’s closure, but has not committed due to concerns about the costs of stabilization and maintenance (estimated at $500,000 over the next decade), liability insurance and environmental remediation. A 2009 pre-feasibility study prepared for the City looked at a variety of options for reuse, including as a geothermal or solar energy plant, a museum of science and technology, or a viewing platform and rock-climbing site for tourists. Newmount Mining set a deadline for a council decision on the tower for fall 2013. The tower does not have a municipal heritage designation. 

 

Where things stand

 

Public support and media attention for the preservation of the Robertson Headframe continue to grow thanks to a Facebook group and a petition. At a June 30 2014 city council meeting, the NWT Mining Heritage Society and other heritage advocates again called on the City to commit to preservation of the tower. But council again deferred its decision, asking for more information on environmental remediation costs and the private sector’s commitment to maintaining the tower.

 

On February 9, 2015 city administrators recommended that the city stop negotiations to take over the headframe on the grounds that it could not legally accept Newman Mining's offer to transfer ownership, and that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to assess any liabilities.