Is the Sudbury Slag Pour still a thing?
20+ years ago I saw the "slag pour" in Sudbury, Ontario. This is molten rock leftover from processing metal out of ore being just dumped down a hillside from special train cars. At night it's really cool:
(from http://www.mysudburyphoto.com/slag-pouring/inco-pouring-slag-PL356.php)
I found YouTube videos from as recently as 2005, yet Wiki travel claims it stopped in the 90s. Who's right? I have a family member going to Sudbury in a few weeks, and if they could safely and legally see a slag pour, I would love to make that possible.
Using an aerial view on Bing maps, I can see what is clearly a train track with slag billows from it, near Road 55 which is mentioned in the articles saying you can't see it any more. I can't seem to see where it happens now. They used to dump a train full (12 cars) every hour, and I doubt that has reduced much, so it must be happening somewhere, right?
Best Answer
As you've noted, Wikivoyage says:
This was a highly popular draw all the way up until the 1990s, when the mining company no longer publicized the location of the slag dumps. It is now impossible to view a slag dump from a public spot due to a green reclamation of the slag hills, and it is considered foolish and dangerous to try and trespass onto the grounds.
Indeed, according to a geocaching site that used to go to the public spot best suited for viewing this, the actual pouring has moved as part of re-greening efforts.
However, the slag pours are still happening, and as some have shown as recently as September, it's possible to fly over the slag pours for a photo.
Some mentions on the net appear about business tours, but evidently the company no longer gives tours.
However, you could try contacting them directly and see if there's any chance - via the official site.
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Do they still dump the slag in Sudbury?
The pouring of molten metal, at temperatures up to 1,300 C, used to be a common sight in the west end of Sudbury. It is still done 24/7, every day of the year, said Melnek, but most people never see it.What is slag dumping?
When iron ore rock melts in a furnace, the impurities separate from the iron and turn into a molten rock called slag. The mills used to ship this slag off in insulated slag train cars, to be dumped off the side of cliffs into one of many eponymous "slag dumps".Slag Dump, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
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Answer 2
Yes. It still happens, but in the interior of the pit, so you cannot view it from a public access point.
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Images: NIKOLAY OSMACHKO, Ba Tik, NIKOLAY OSMACHKO, Ketut Subiyanto