Canada’s Diamond Mines’ Winter Road Holding Up

Ice thickness on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road has now surpassed 40 inches, making it sufficiently strong to support one hundred percent highway loads. The 2006 winter road, which closed prematurely last year owing to unseasonably warm weather, never reached this ice thickness at the south end.

The Joint Venture Management Committee (JVMC), which manages the road, reported that this ice thickness is due to this season’s colder winter.

This year, the first section of the winter road (also known as the ice road) opened January 28, and since then, traffic has been moving smoothly, with little disruption. The final leg of the road, the section that services the Tahera mine in Nunavut, opened on February 14. So far, 6,300 truck loads of fuel and general freight have traveled along the road this season. .

The JVMC projects that approximately 10,000 truck loads of fuel, explosives, equipment, and assorted freight will be transported to the Ekati, Diavik, and Tahera diamond mines, to the Snap Lake mine construction project, and to the various exploration projects and tourist camps that dot the road.

Meanwhile, work continues on the secondary ice road route to Gordon Lake. As a result of deeper snow and work on the portages, this route is now expected to open in early March.