Winter Road UpdateWork Begins on NWT Winter Road
By Jeanette Goldman Posted: 12/28/06 03:09
RAPAPORT... Despite unseasonably mild weather, work is underway on the 570 kilometer winter road that supplies diamond mines in the Canada’s Northwest Territories and Nunavut, reported CBC News.
Tom Hoefer, spokesman for the Diavik Diamond Mine, one of the mining companies which manage the winter road, told CBC News that workers are a week ahead of their normal schedule. Approximately 87 percent of the road is built of frozen lakes and streams. Hoefer added that crews are using amphibious vehicles to remove snow from the ice to allow it to thicken.
November’s cold weather has produced a good ice base, he said. If all goes as planned, Hoefer anticipates that the road will be in operation by February 2007.
In 2006, warm weather forced the closing of the road earlier than planned. The road was only open 42 days, as opposed to its average 67 days and mining companies had to use the more expensive air transporation in order to supply the mines with fuel and supplies.
Three diamond producing mines are serviced by the road – Diavik, Ekati and Jericho, as well as De Beers’ Snap Lake mine, due to go into production in late 2007.