The earliest mining on Bell Island was of the open-pit variety. The mining operation which began production on the Island in 1895 and which helped offset the decline in Conception Bay's maritime economy owed its existence to the intervention of outside (in this case Canadian) capital into the Newfoundland economy. In this it set a precedent for the future resource industrial economy of Newfoundland and Labrador. As might be expected, capital was attracted to Bell Island in support of development elsewhere - in this instance Nova Scotia, though European ore markets were always important to the success of the mines. Bell Island was developed as a mining centre primarily to provide the Cape Breton steel industry with iron ore. Its rise was an important aspect of the development of an integrated steel industry in the Atlantic region of Canada and its corporate history is, therefore, illustrative of the behaviour of Canadian capitalism abroad.
The first company to mine ore on the Island was the Nova Scotia Coal and Steel Company. This company was popularly known as the ``Scotia'' company. In 1899 part of this company's holdings on the Island passed into the hands of another Canadian company, the Dominion Iron and Steel Corporation, which was popularly known as the "Dominion" company. In 1922 both companies were absorbed into the British Empire Steel Corporation. This corporation went into receivership in 1926. and for the next four years its affairs were directed by the National Trust Company of Toronto. In 1930 the operation was sold to the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO). Beginning in 1949, Dominion Wabana Ore Limited, a subsidiary of this corporation, operated mines. Finally, in 1957 both subsidiary and parent passed under the control of A.V. Roe Canada Ltd., a company which in 1962 changed its name to Hawker Siddley Canada Ltd.
