Restoration work stabilizes Morden Mine tipple south of Nanaimo

The Morden Mine headframe and tipple structure at Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park stands tall, and now stable, too.

The concrete structure, located in South Wellington, south of Nanaimo, has been undergoing nearly a year of restoration work to replace sections of concrete that had been crumbling away and putting the structure, built in 1912, in danger of eventually collapsing.

Workers on site said Thursday was expected to be the last day to pour concrete and scaffolding surrounding the 22.5-metre-tall structure could start being dismantled Friday.

In April 2019 the provincial government committed $1.4 million to restore the structure, which is one of just two of its kind left standing in North America. At that time, the province said two months of stabilization work would be followed by more than a year of repair work.

Concrete used to repair the head frame and tipple was a mix that employed the same types of aggregates used to form the original structure to better match the texture and appearance of the original construction materials.

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Nanaimo News Bulletin