Qualla: Kerr-Addison Mine

Kerr-Addison Mine: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit James St. John, CC BY 2.0. Ignace Tonene found the gold first. Around 1900, the chief of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai community discovered gold ore on the shore of Larder Lake in what would become Ontario's Timiskaming District. He did everything right -- registered his staking claims through the proper legal channels. It did not matter. European settlers jumped his claim, re-registered the land in their own names, and wrote Tonene out of the story. The mine that grew from his discovery would produce over 12 million ounces of gold and become the largest gold producer in North America by 1960. His name appears nowhere on the property.

Read more: Kerr-Addison Mine on Qualla

Image: James St. John | CC BY 2.0

Kerr-Addison Mine: From Stolen Ground to Continental Giant

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Magnolia677, CC BY 4.0. The man whose name the mine eventually bore, Kerr, was a 1903 University of Toronto graduate who had spent exactly one week doing geological mapping as an assistant at the Geological Survey of Canada. He shared his analysis with William Addison, who visited the Larder Lake area i...

Read more: Kerr-Addison Mine on Qualla

Image: Magnolia677 | CC BY 4.0

Kerr-Addison Mine: Rocks That Tell Deep Time

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Magnolia677, CC BY 4.0. The Kerr-Addison sits in the Abitibi gold belt, one of the most mineral-rich geological formations on the planet. The mine is embedded in basalt, positioned between the Timiskaming grouping of metasedimentary rock and Keewatin groupings of metavolcanic rock. The surrounding terra...

Read more: Kerr-Addison Mine on Qualla

Image: Magnolia677 | CC BY 4.0

Kerr-Addison Mine: The Price of Gold in Water

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Magnolia677, CC BY 4.0. When global gold prices were deregulated in 1971, the price climbed from $35 to $800 per ounce by 1980, then collapsed. The resulting volatility was devastating for the mine's succession of owners. Golden Shield Resources went bankrupt in 1989. During the Deak Resources era, the ...

Read more: Kerr-Addison Mine on Qualla

Image: Magnolia677 | CC BY 4.0

Kerr-Addison Mine: A Mine Nobody Wanted to Clean Up

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Magnolia677, CC BY 4.0. The Kerr-Addison's post-closure history reads like a game of corporate hot potato. Ownership cycled through Golden Shield Resources, Deak Resources, AJ Perron, and a tangle of numbered companies. In 1997, McGarry Township sent in bailiffs to seize mine assets over $2.1 million in...

Read more: Kerr-Addison Mine on Qualla

Image: Magnolia677 | CC BY 4.0