Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 13/00) - The Diavik deal done, the company can now start shipping freight North to Lac de Gras.

With the days getting longer and warmer, the company is racing against Mother Nature to get all their supplies shipped up the Lupin ice road.

If Diavik manages to beat the warm weather, this will prove to be the busiest year for truckers on the ice road, according to Kirk McLellan, logistics manager for Echo Bay Mines, the company that manages and maintains the Lupin ice road.

"With the full Diavik mobilization, we had anticipated approximately 131,500 tons of freight," McLellan said.

"As of March 7, we had moved 1,842 loads, which represented about 63,000 tons, which was well over the 50 per cent mark," he added. "Now, of that, Diavik had moved very little."

Unless April turns out to be unusually cold, McLellan said there is virtually no chance of Diavik getting everything they need to their mine site, which is approximately 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife.

"It's safe to say they are not going to move their projected (amount), which was 43,700 tons," he said. "The number that keeps cropping up is that they are only going to meet about 30 per cent of their projected total."

McLellan said the busiest year on the ice road to date, was when BHP started construction at their Ekati site in 1997 when 99,117 tons were shipped. Last year there were 60,218 tons of material trucked up the road, and '98 was 80,938 tons. This year's projection was 131,000 tons.

"This was definitely the biggest projected year on record, but I don't think we're going to meet it though," McLellan said.

Diavik has about a month left to ship supplies according to previous years, he said.

"Basically, we have the road tentatively opened until April 15. Historically, that date can fluctuate significantly, obviously depending on the weather."

Art Barnes, regional superintendent for the Department of Transportation, said if Diavik is able to ship all it had proposed, this will be one of the busiest years for trucking freight in the NWT.

Barnes said according to projected figures based on Diavik, BHP and Lupin's load requirements, Diavik is expected to haul one-third of all freight trucked into the NWT this winter.

"The Diavik tonnage was about 1,200 loads and 43,700 tonnes was what we got from the earlier figures," Barnes said. "That tonnage is about one-third of the annual winter traffic that comes through the scales."

Freight destined for the Lupin road accounts for nearly all the freight pushed through the scales, Barnes said.

"If Diavik can get in all the freight they want to get in, or have to get in, we're looking at perhaps 4,000 loads through Lupin and 5,400 loads coming through the weigh scale," he said.

Graham Nicholls, vice-president of external affairs for BHP, said they won't have a problem getting in whatthey need.

"We had a total of 1,600 loads to haul this winter and so far we've hauled about 1,200, so we won't have any problem getting the last 400 remaining," Nicholls said.

"Last year we did about 1,300 loads and during construction ('97-'98) we were about 2,200 loads," he said. About half is fuel.

"We fly in consumables like groceries and smaller pieces of equipment," he said. "We're flying cargo in and out all year, but anything that is big and bulky, we're going to bring it up the road -- it's much, much cheaper."

Trucker Bill Fitzgerald, from Deer Lake Nfld., has been driving for 27 years and now works as a lease operator for Robinson's Trucking Ltd.

He's been driving the Lupin road for five winters now and feels better driving the ice than he does going to Rae.

"I'd say you're safer out there than you are on the highways," Fitzgerald said. "Especially between here and Rae/Edzo, I mean jeezus, that's hard to drive on."

The difference on the ice road is that every driver up there is a professional, Fitzgerald said.

"Everybody up there on that road are all drivers and everybody respects each other," he said. "You got none of these arseholes driving around. Up there on that road it's like a four-lane highway."

In his experience, overflow has never been a problem.

"We had overflow last year at the end of Gordon (Lake), but the road crew kept it under control," Fitzgerald explained. "In the cold weather they pack snow into it."

He says the new diamond mine could spark the busiest year yet, for drivers.

"The busiest year I had here is the year BHP started," he said. "This year it seemed to slow right down with this Diavik deal, but it looks like it's going to end in a very busy season."

Lorne Thoresen owns AA&A Pilot Car Services out of Grande Prairie, Alta. He migrates North when the lakes and rivers freeze into roads.

"It's that time of year," Thoresen smiled. "We're booked solid."

Thoresen runs three pilot vehicles and normally works in and around Northern Alberta, but this time of year his rigs point further North.

"I'm working around Zama Lake and the Peace River area mostly, but there's a lot of activity up here right now."