Baie Verte

Baie Verte, NL, incorporated as a town in 1958, population 1370 (2011c), 1275 (2006c). The Town of Baie Verte is located on the Baie Verte Peninsula on the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Although part of the French Shore until 1904, the area was used by English settlers from the 1870s. The French named the area for its greenness, "green bay."

A copper mine opened near Baie Verte in the 1850s, and mining and lumbering were the main occupations of the community until the mine closed in 1915. Mining again became important in 1963 when Advocate Mines Ltd began asbestos operations, and shortly afterwards Consolidated Rambler began mining copper again. By the late 1970s half the labour force was employed in mining, but in the early 1980s declining prices led to work stoppages; the Consolidated Rambler closed in 1982 (but was open sporadically between 1995-98) and the Advocate mine changed hands twice before eventually shutting down in 1994. The Nugget Pond gold mine was in production from 1997-2001.

In the late 2000s mining activity was again on the upswing with the opening of the Pine Cove gold mine (2008) and the reopening of the former Nugget Pond mine to process gold-bearing ore from Greenland (2007). The lumber and logging industries also offer some employment. Baie Verte remains the main service centre on the peninsula and is home to a campus of College of the North Atlantic. Tourism increased in importance with the opening of a downhill ski resort in 1994. The Miners' Museum features a mining tunnel. At Fleur de Lys, 29 km north of Baie Verte, is the Dorset Soapstone Quarry. A designated national historic site (1982), the quarry shows how the Dorset people mined soapstone for bowls and lamps over 1600 years ago.