Hard Rock Gold
'You have to know how to read the rock. There's a grain to the rock just as there is a grain to wood. You have to hit it a certain way if you want to break it. The rock never welcomes you but it accepts you.' Canada's geologically rich hard rock mining belt in Northern Ontario and Quebec is home to some of the world's deepest and largest underground mines and smelters. Many of the communities surrounding the mines have given rise to some of the most militant labor unions in North American history. The personal histories of the people in these communities are a moving testament of triumph and tragedy. 'I started at Kerr Gold Mine in my last year of high school in 1982. I told myself I'd work a summer and save up enough money to buy a car and then quit. But it never happens. You get used to the money. All five boys in my family went underground.'Steve Sheldon, Larder Lake.
Picture © Louie Palu/zReportage.com/ZUMA
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