Burin Peninsula

The Burin Peninsula extends to the southwest from the main island of Newfoundland, separating Fortune Bay to the west from Placentia Bay to the east. It measures approximately 130 km (81 mi) in length and between 15 and 30 kilometres (9.3–18.6 mi) in width. It is connected by a 30 km (19 mi) wide isthmus between Terrenceville and Monkstown.

It was originally named the Buria Peninsula by fishermen from the Basque region during the 16th century. The peninsula is also known as "The Boot" because of its shape.

Economy

For centuries, there were plentiful cod, other fish and crustaceans in the area. The seafood supplied a thriving fishing industry. The eventual collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery led to local mass unemployment during the second half of the 1990s.

In response to a decline in the cod fishery industry, the Newfoundland government refurbished the Marystown shipyard in 1992. Ownership left Canada when the American company Friede Goldman Ltd. bought the facility in 1998, and remained in American hands when ownership changed again in 2002 to Kiewit Offshore Services Ltd. By 2019, the shipyard had been idle for four years and was acquired by Marbase Marystown Inc. (usually just Marbase), under a 20-year lease with the intention of establishing a service hub supporting regional aquaculture, the first of its kind in Canada. Marbase is a partnership between one Newfoundland businessman, Paul Antle, and the Norwegian company Amar Group AS.

In 2019, Marbase Cleanerfish Ltd., began work on a commercial lumpfish hatchery in Marystown, with an anticipated customer base of Atlantic salmon farm operators. As of 2020, government approval of the work in relation to environmental impact had not yet been completed.

Fluorspar (also called fluorite) deposits had been noted on the peninsula as early as 1843; however, it was not until 1933 that mining began. The operation was started by American Walter Siebert whose company was named the St. Lawrence Corporation of Newfoundland. Backbreaking work and no pay initially, finally led to a more significant mine by 1937; a second mine also opened in 1937, the American Newfoundland Fluorspar Company. The fluorspar mines in St. Lawrence were major employers until business declined in the 1970s; the mines had closed by 1978. In 2011, Canada Fluorspar Inc. outlined preparations to open a fluorspar mine on the site of the old mine. The federal government provided $5 million in funding in 2017 and the provincial government provided a loan of $17 million to finance the re-opening. Production finally commenced in mid-2018.