The original 1905 Buchans discovery made by Matty Mitchell was only the first in a series of discoveries that would lead to 57 years of continuous mining later during the life of the down. "Old Buchans" as that mine was called, only produced a small percentage of the ore at Buchans - 217,135 tons. It was mined from 1943 to 1956 accessed this orebody not through the original 1906-1911 shaft but connected to the mine primarily via 1 level in Oriental and again in 1977 and 1978 - open pit/surface. Besides Old Buchans, four major mines operated at different times between 1927 and 1984 - Lucky Strike Mine, Oriental, Rothermere, and MacLeans.