Publication (December 01, 2005)

The story behind Voisey’s Bay

In the summer of 1970, a far-sighted geologist named David Barr led a prospecting party to the coast of northern Labrador. A decade and a half later, two government geologists, Bruce Ryan and Dan Lee, recognized the mineral potential of the Voisey’s Bay area. But it was not until 1994 that two prospectors from Newfoundland, Al Chislett and Chris Verbiski, discovered at Voisey’s Bay an ore deposit that one Newfoundland politician would describe as “beyond our wildest dreams.”

Two rival companies battled for the attention of the colourful financier, Robert Friedland, who controlled Voisey’s Bay. The winner was Inco Ltd. In 1996, Inco confidently predicted that it could bring a mine into production at Voisey’s Bay within 2 1/2 years. But Inco’s struggles had only just begun. In Inco Comes to Labrador, mining analyst Raymond Goldie (a member of the original Barr party) recounts how misunderstandings between Inco and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador nearly killed the development of one of the world’s great mines.

The author will contribute 25% of his proceeds from the sale of this first edition of Inco Comes to Labrador to the Smallwood Foundation for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies. For more information, see www.flankerpress.com/inco.

Inco Comes to Labrador

by Raymond Goldie

ISBN 1-894463-75-7

$24.95

364 pages, paperback

6-in x 9-in