ATIKOKAN — The Ontario government plans to make improvements to an 80-year-old dam in the Atikokan area.
The Wagita Bay concrete dam was one of numerous water control structures built in the 1940s to facilitate the draining and dredging of Steep Rock Lake and the diversion of the Seine River.
This was necessary to provide access to what was the richest undeveloped deposit of iron ore in North America at the height of the Second World War.
Mining began in 1944 and continued until 1980.
In 1988, the 5,260 hectares of mining lands were surrendered to the Crown, and the Ministry of Natural Resources took over rehabilitation.
Since the termination of operations, the open pits created by mining have been slowly filling with water, creating the Hogarth and Caland pit lakes.
Various dams remain in place and must be maintained, although the ministry anticipates the new lakes will overflow into the Seine River sometime between 2050 and 2070.
Work on the Wagita dam will begin next year and will be completed in 2026.
The project, which includes concrete rehabilitation and bedrock anchoring, will extend the dam's service life by about 50 years.
According to the ministry, the investment in this dam and nine others across Ontario is in response to past recommendations made by the province's Auditor General.
NOTE: A previous version of this story was updated on Dec. 31, 2024 with additional details provided by the MNR
