Jim Allen
Jim Allen was an Amax geologist working on a molybdenum exploration program in 1962 when he discovered the rich tungsten find where the North Canol Road crosses the Yukon/NT border. Jim was flying over unmapped areas with a bush pilot in a single-engine super-cub on floats looking for volcanic intrusives. He noticed something in the area and the plane landed on Cirque Lake. Nothing was found at this time to indicate the massive deposit that would be discovered later after further study. In fact, Allen didn't map the outcropping on his first visit. The deposit is part of a mountain now called Mount Allen, named after Jim Allen. In 1968 drilling began on the Mactung property. Mactung is the largest undeveloped high-grade tungsten deposit in the world and will be a world class producer in the long term. Fifteen million dollars had been spent on the development of this mine to 1984.1)