In a land of unique places, Kitsault, B.C. is especially different.
The town of Kitsault was built in the late 1970s along Alice Arm to serve the nearby Amax molybdenum mine. The town, located in northern B.C. on the Alice Arm, was constructed by U.S. mining conglomerate Phelps Dodge, according to Kitsault’s website. The plan was to mine the ground around the town for molybdenum, a metal used to prevent corrosion.
The company built more than 100 single-family homes and duplexes, plus seven apartment buildings with 202 suites, according to the site. The town had a hospital, mall, bank, theatre, two recreation centres, pub, pool, and library.
About 1,200 mine workers moved to the town with their families, CBC News reported. But the recession in 1982 led to a collapse in prices, forcing the miners to pack up and leave — just 18 months after the mine opened.
In an effort to revitalize the ghost town, Kitsault has been proposed as a location for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal site for the export of natural gas from northwestern British Columbia. LNG pipeline routing to Kitsault has been proposed.