Mining and Uranium
Afton Mines
1 picture · 1978
- Founded
- 1965 (Afton Mines Ltd., N.P.L., British Columbia)
- Head office then
- Vancouver, British Columbia (1199 West Hastings Street); mine office Kamloops, B.C.
Afton Mines was a Kamloops copper company, incorporated in British Columbia in 1965. Teck took control after a 1972 fight. Open-pit mining began in 1977. Ore was milled on site.
The pit sat next to Kamloops and was an early large Teck mine in the Interior.
Why it mattered
Afton was a large B.C. copper-gold pit next to Kamloops and an early large-scale Teck mine. It added milling and smelting capacity in the Interior and cash flow that Teck later used to grow.
Now
Teck folded Afton into Afton Operating Corporation in 1981. The main pit was worked out in 1987. New Gold later built the New Afton underground mine on the same ground; production started in 2012. Coeur Mining bought New Gold, including New Afton, in March 2026.
Still open
- Sources disagree on the last year of Teck’s historic Afton/Ajax operation (1991 vs 1997).
- Whether Afton Mines Ltd. was fully amalgamated out of existence in 1981 or continued as a Teck subsidiary is described differently in MINFILE vs Teck’s 40-F.
Sources
The pictures
- Afton Mines 1978 — annual reportarchive.org/details/Afto0195_1978
References
- B.C. MINFILE 092INE023 (New Afton / Afton)Teck control 1972–78; 1981 Afton Operating Corporation; pit 1977; depleted 1987; mining ceased 1991
- Teck Resources Form 40-F (corporate history)consolidation with Afton Mines Ltd. in 1981
- New Gold: Technical Report on the New Afton Mine (2020)Teck pit 1977–1997; New Gold production July 2012
- Osgoode Hall Law Journal: The Battle of Afton MinesAfton Mines Ltd. (N.P.L.) incorporated B.C. 1965; Teck takeover 1972
- New Gold: Completes Arrangement with Coeur Mining (20 Mar 2026)New Afton now under Coeur via New Gold acquisition