Page 80 bank of claim s and they made for - tunes. McKinnon told several inter - viewers he made $900,000. McKinnon had another bright idea they implemented; they bought up all the mining maps of the half dozen townships surrounding Kidd, making it diffcult for prospectors and compa - nies to fnd out what land was open. The trio also demanded anyone or company that bought claims from them agree to a royalty , just in case there was something of value on the properties. The standard royalty was one per cent at the time but McKin - non realized the trio had the upper hand and they negotiated higher roy - alties. When the three partners went their separate ways in 1965, McKinnon ad - opted the practice of asking for a fve per cent royalty and ne - gotiating down to three per cent or 2.5 per cent. He told other prospec - tors they were wrong to start at three per cent as they ended up accepting one per cent. It turned out that the Kidd Creek Mine, which went into production in 1966 and has an expect - ed life that will carry it into 2020, was unique. No other producing mine was found in the general area of Kidd Creek but the negotiat - ing tact ic was to serve McKinnon and Larche well down the road. McKinnon was often a speaker at mining conferences and his hotel suite was a gathering place for mining people where he teached the prospec - Cont’d from pg. 76 Cont’d on pg. 79 Prospectors from left, Fred Rousseau, John Larche and Don McKinnon made fortunes during the 1964-65 T immins Mining Rush “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 78