On the November the 26th, the Discovery Class made their way to the Britannia Mine Museum to explore the facility and learn, all for a one day field trip.

Upon arrival, the boys were already excited when the sight of a giant mining vehicle. They got to meet their tour guide for the day: Lara and started walking to the opening of the mine.

The class took a mine cart through a few mine tunnels and along the way, they saw sticks of dynamite, oxidizing copper sulphate and of course: many, many rocks.

After being in the mine shaft for 20 minutes, the group followed their tour guide, Lara, to the main facility: Mill #3. Mill#3 was where all the large pieces of rock that were blasted and mined out of the mountain went. This mill was extremely dangerous to the workers due to all the dust that was blown into the air by the machines fining down rock. This dust would cause silicosis, a irreversible lung disease which would eventually kill the miners that were exposed to it.

Throughout the day, the boys got to learn about the tools of mining, impacts of mining and the different uses of facilities in the world of mining. Through many decades; buildings were destroyed, tools became more efficient and mining businesses became safer and larger.

To this day, Mill #3 is still in good condition and Britannia Mine Museum is leading tours around and in the mining site, if you’re interested in visiting, click here!