Flin Flon Derailment on the Hudson Bay Railway - April 2000
A work trip took me to northern Manitoba in April - May 2000. At this time the gold mining industry was going through a rough patch, with depressed prices and many companies cutting staff and shutting down mining operations. The project I was running at the time had been shut down and I was at loose ends. My boss "strongly suggested" that I get out of the office for an extended period as having someone not actively working on a project was likely to get unwelcome attention from the company in the form of a pink slip. So I quickly came up with a trip to review gold projects in the cheapest way possible in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. There was a mining conference in Thunder Bay and I knew people in Flin Flon and Thompson that I could couch surf with. I arranged a few mine tours and meetings with several companies and prospectors to review their gold projects. Overall I think I budgeted around $2000 for the trip including car rental, gas, airfare and food. The f