Sudbury, often referred to as the mining capital of the world, is situated beside Ramsey Lake in northern Ontario, about five hours' drive north of Toronto.
Iron bearing lodes of mineral ore were first noticed here in 1883 during construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Before
long other minerals were discovered, massive deposits of sulphurous nickel in particular. The latter have been mined on a large scale ever since and today more than three quarters of the world's output of nickel comes from the Sudbury Basin. Platinum, gold, silver, copper, cobalt, lead, zinc and iron are among the other metals found in the area.
The huge smokestacks towering above the copper and nickel processing plants are among the town's many landmarks. The mining and industrial area around Sudbury boasts the highest smokestacks in the world (350 m (1150 ft)), built in the hope of preventing toxic gases emitted by local industries from laying waste the entire surrounding countryside. It soon became clear however that the poisonous fumes from the new chimneys were simply being carried further afield (as far as Labrador for example) before wreaking similar havoc there. Now waste-gas purification plants have been installed to reduce the damaging effects of the emissions.
Sudbury also possesses a first-class technical university. As for the surrounding landscape, it is reminiscent of the surface of the moon.
Up-to-date research into the geology of the region suggests that the depression or "basin" in which Sudbury lies is a massive crater formed by a meteorite striking this south-western part of the Canadian Shield with enormous velocity many millions of years ago. Particles of material from the impact were condensed into the existing rock or transformed by metamorphosis into new rocks, minerals and ores. The shock waves of the collision scattered debris over a wide area. This cataclysmic event is believed to have been responsible for the formation of the sulphurous nickel deposits which lie in extensive fields about 60 km (37 mi.) long, and of other ores.
The latest theory has superceded an earlier one which sought to explain the origin of the crater together with the presence of large quantities of minerals as the product of a violent volcanic eruption in Palaeozoic times.
Until fairly recently gas emissions were allowed into the atmosphere at a rate of 3600 tons per day, resulting in acid rain which attacked and destroyed vast tracts of vegetation over a wide area. Damage was even caused to forests as far afield as the Labrador Peninsula, 1200 to 1500 km (750 to 930 mi.) to the east. Nowadays, thanks to the installation of efficient desulphurising systems, the gas plumes issuing from the tall chimneys (up to 350 m (1150 ft) high) are much less toxic and dangerous to the environment. Both local industry and the government (provincial as well as federal) are committed to further reductions in pollution levels.
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