History of the Clear Hills Iron
The Clear Hills form a gently sloping upland which extends between the Peace River on the south and east and the British Columbia border on the west. The hills rise gradually from the surrounding wooded plains and attain a maximum elevation of about 3,600 feet near their southern margin.
Resources have been previously estimated at 1,124 million tons of which 227 million tons were considered ‘proved’ and 897 million tons were classed as ‘probable or ‘possible’ resources. On the basis of grade and volume, the deposits constitute the largest potential source of iron ore in the four western provinces.
The iron deposits were initially discovered in 1924, and attracted considerable development interest during the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s. The deposits were named in an Alberta Research Council publication entitled “Peace River Iron Deposits” by E.F. Bertram and G.B. Mellon of 1975. The report described the Worsley “A”, Rambling Creek “B”, Whitemud “C” and South Whitemud “D” deposits.
At that time a large amount of exploratory and feasibility work was done because the Clear Hills deposit is the only potentially economic iron ore deposit in the Prairies region of western Canada.
