EXCITE, INSPIRE AND ENGAGE!

Excite, inspire and engage your students with the joys, noise and stories of BC mining history and how Britannia is a model for modern mining remediation. 

Fully-orchestrated programs utilize our unique terrain to the fullest – in our industrial site, mine tunnel, vast concentrator mill, cottage walk, exhibit spaces and the EPCOR water treatment plant.

 “As the demand for mined minerals increases, everyone – from students, to miners, to governments and global corporations – must understand how to work together to meet those needs while protecting the world in which we live”: https://mining.cat.com/groundrules

Customized by grade, take a close-up look at mining then and now, why mining is worth it, life in a company town, the use and importance of minerals, and environmental protection and remediation.

With over 100 years of social and mining history, the Britannia Mine Museum has been educating and entertaining tens of thousands of students for over 35 years. You can be confident your students will have an excellent field trip!

WHAT TO DO NEXT

- See program descriptions and choose your program

- Choose optional add-ons

- Rates, optional add-ons, program duration and availability

- How to book

- Policies applying to your booking

- Post-secondary programs

LINKS TO HELP YOU

- How to plan your visit

- Field trip features, curriculum, location and amenities

- Education resources

- PDF link - Meeting Your District's Field Trip Policy

- PDF link - Meeting Learning Objectives

- PDF link - Curriculum Links & PLOs

CURRICULUM

CHOICE OF PROGRAMS FROM K TO 12

The Mysteries of the Mine - for grades K to 2

In this program, you and your students follow the adventures of a young boy name Cal as he discovers what mining is and why we do it, as told throughout the Museum.
As your students journey around the Museum, they participate in stories about Cal and his quest to uncover the mysteries of the mine. What is mining? Why do we mine? How do we mine?  With a focus on Britannia, your students also discover what mining means to animals that live near a mine and why caring for the environment is caring for ourselves.

Live, Work, Play - for grades 3 to 5

Immerse yourself and your students in the Britannia story, as you and your class participate in telling the story of Britannia Beach and explore the working conditions of our miners and millworkers.
The people of Britannia from 1904-1974 lived, worked, and played locally. Interactive storytelling takes students on a journey through the life of the Company town named Britannia Beach, while bringing to the forefront factors that created both good times and bad for its residents. Following the story, students journey into our historic tunnel to experience the conditions the miners faced, and into the Mill to discover what this massive building meant to its workers and the people who lived in Britannia.

What Use Are Minerals To Me? - for grades K to 5

Minerals are all around us but often go unnoticed. This program aims to ignite a fascination for minerals through an examination of familiar and exotic specimens and their uses.
In half of this program, students explore the different physical properties and uses of selected minerals in our learning zone.  With our more robust samples, students will work hands-on as they discover the properties that make samples unique. With our more delicate specimens, students have the opportunity to have a close look to discover the innate beauty of the crystal formations. The other half of this program explores copper and Britannia’s history. A journey into our historic tunnel reveals how copper is not just important for its use, but for the jobs and communities created because of it.

Mining: Then and Now - for grades 5 to 12

Explore how mining has changed over the past 150 years as you and your class journey through our historic tunnel, visit our mill, and discover the significance of our wetlands.
With a focus on Britannia, students discover how industrial, technological, and environmental revolutions have changed mining practices. In our historic tunnel, students will explore the conditions the Britannia miners faced, and learn about the changing and unchanging realities of working underground. In our Mill, students will observe how minerals were separated from waste rock, and discover the significance of this process both historically and currently. Mining can disrupt the environment tremendously, as it did at Britannia. Our understanding of this impact has changed. Students will discover how Britannia is now a model for modern mining remediation.

The Social Side of Britannia - for grades 5 to 12

Discover what life was like in the isolated coastal resource community of Britannia Beach through an exploration of our largest artefacts: our buildings and tunnel.
What were living conditions like? What did people do for fun? Where did the children go to school? What was a miner’s day like? What happened after the Mine closed? Was life different for married men and single men? These questions and more are answered in this program, as you and your students learn about the realities of life in a company town, from the perspectives of managers, miners, homemakers, and children. How was it different from life today? Students actively engage in exploring the similarities and differences to modern life and assessing how deep the differences really are.

EPCOR Water Treatment Plant - for grades 5 to 12

Get hands-on as you and your class replicate part of the Acid Rock Drainage treatment process and discover why it is so important.
In this program, your students begin by discovering the significance of the Britannia Mine and its environmental impact. From there, students explore the modern story of Britannia’s environmental clean-up. Explore the many reasons why this success story is so important. Locally, marine life has returned to Britannia’s intertidal zone. Globally, this remediation is an example of how closed mines with pollution problems can be cleaned up. Individually, it is a story of how people can work towards positive change. Socially, it is a story of a community that has been reborn.

Mining: Is It Worth It? - for grades 7 to 12

Evaluate the costs and benefits of mining as you and your students explore our tunnel, mill, and exhibit spaces. To conclude your visit, your students will be asked to tell us at what cost mining is worth it.
In this program, our Interpreters will take your students on a journey though the impact of mining at Britannia and elsewhere, exploring topics ranging from the need for copper, job creation, community creation, lost agricultural land, human health hazards, waste rock disposal, and water pollution. While on that journey, students will collect evidence to support one of two positions: mining is never worth it or mining is always worth it. While exploring our exhibit spaces, your students will have the opportunity to enhance their positions on mining. To conclude, your students will engage in a debate on the value of mining and inform us at what cost they feel it is worth it.

Mineral Diversity: Up Close - for grades 10 to 12

Global forces, local results. Your class will explore how our planet came to have over 4400 species of minerals and discover up close the geologic history of Britannia.
From a global perspective, your students learn about the relationship between biology, mineralogy, and geologic forces, as well as handle rock and mineral specimens of geologic and social significance. From a local perspective, they explore the geologic history of Britannia as revealed through the evidence visible on the surface and in our tunnel. While walking through our tunnel, students also discover what new mineral formations are present, and why they are forming. During a visit to our historic Mill building, students learn about the mineral separation challenges faced at Britannia and elsewhere.

Environmental Legacies: Acid Rock Drainage - for grades 10 to 12

Explore Britannia’s water pollution problem on a guided walk through our historic tunnel, discover how it is treated, and get hands-on with the treatment process at the EPCOR Water Treatment Plant.
In this program, you and your students examine Britannia’s pollution problem up close. Walk our historic tunnel to investigate Acid Rock Drainage at its source. While underground, you will examine the impact of ARD on the environment and what the Mine owners did that mitigated this. Attention will then be turned to modern mining and environmental practices. At the Water Treatment Plant you will discover firsthand how one of North America’s worst industrial pollution points has been rendered cleaner than before mining began at Britannia.