Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting & Power Company, Limited (also known as Granby Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company, Granby Copper & Granby Mining Company Ltd was a publicly traded company that owned and operated the Phoenix Mine in the community of Phoenix in the Boundary Country region of British Columbia, Canada in the early and mid 20th century.
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Formation
In 1896 S. H. C. Miner, a rubber footwear manufacturer from Granby, Quebec, and mining promoter J. P. Graves (of Knob Hill Mining Company) and A. L. Little (of Old Ironsides), formed the Miner-Graves Syndicate. In 1899, they incorporated The Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, Limited and, in 1901, consolidated under The Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited. at the Knob Hill annual meeting. It was founded after an agreement was reached by the directors of Knob Hill, Ironsides, Grey Eagle and Granby Smelter Company. The company was formed with $15,000,000, of which $2,900,000 was held in Treasury stock.
Phoenix Mine
Granby operated the Phoenix Mine, which comprised both an underground mine and open pit mine. The underground operation utilized a square-set mining method, but by 1901 had converted to an open stope and pillar method with considerable cost savings. The operation maintained a completely unsupported "show stope" which with dimensions of 80 feet (24 m) high, 105 feet (32 m) wide, and 400 feet (122 m) long. In 1903 the mine operated three small steam shovels to work in the surface operations producing half of the mines production, this made up one of the earliest attempts at open pit mining in British Columbia. The mine reopened in 1959 and closed in 1976.
Legacy
The company name lends itself to the self-dumping Granby car, that originated at the Phoenix mine. Based on a wooden car, the Granby car in its present form was first introduced in 1905 when twenty 10-ton steel cars were built for use on the main haulage levels.