Snow Lake

Snow Lake, Manitoba, incorporated as a town in 1976, population 723 (2011c), 837 (2006c). The Town of Snow Lake is located 679 km northwest of Winnipeg on the Canadian SHIELD. The town owes its existence to mining and milling operations in the vicinity. Gold was first discovered at nearby Wekusko Lake in 1914 and by C.R. (Lew) Parres in 1927 at what is now Snow Lake. The townsite was laid out in 1945 after Howe Sound Exploration Co Ltd decided to develop the Snow Lake property (1943). The mine closed in 1958 and Snow Lake would have become a ghost town if Hudson's Bay Mining and Smelting Co Ltd (HBMS) had not begun mining copper and zinc in the area. In the mid-1980s, HBMS had 6 mines in production providing ore for a mill site at Stall Lake. Now known as HudBay Mines Inc, it currently operates a zinc mine at Chisel Lake and a mill, which concentrates the ore, at Snow Lake. The gold mine was reactivated in 1995 and produced gold until 2004. Marble is quarried nearby.