Yellowknife (May 10/06) - Environment officials and the fire department are scouring the city for tonnes of construction materials and other items left behind after the shortened ice-road season to barrenland diamond mines.

Ekati was forced to leave behind 2,500 one-tonne bags of cement additive after the winter road closed early this year. A union spokesperson said the substance isn't very "nice stuff" and shouldn't be left unguarded. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

Most noticeable are 2,500 one-tonne bags of Portland cement, used to strengthen the walls of underground mine shafts.

After the winter road to the diamond mines closed early due to warm weather March 26, Ekati's owner, BHP Billiton, was forced to leave the cement behind in the parking lot at Northern Metalic and on a lot on Kam Lake Road.

The bags at Northern Metalic sit about 100 metres from Frame Lake. The bags at Kam Lake are right beside the road. Some have toppled over into a muddy ditch.

According to Material Safety Data Sheets for Portland Cement, the substance poses little immediate hazard, although the documents add that "exposure of sufficient duration to wet Portland cement can cause serious, potentially irreversible tissue (skin or eye) destruction in the form of chemical burns, including third degree burns."

Silica crystals in the substance, if inhaled, may cause silicosis - a disabling and potentially fatal lung disease. Warning labels on the bags identify it as a caustic substance.

Emery Paquin, director of environmental protection, said his office and the Yellowknife Fire Department are trying to figure out how much material was left behind by the early closure of the winter road and whether any of it is hazardous.

"That's what we want to find out, both from an environmental perspective, as well as an emergency response perspective," Paquin said.

"Once we have that information, then we can decide together whether the storage is appropriate or whether there needs to be plans put in place, or whether the material needs to be moved to a different location."

He said he is aware of the Portland cement, but hasn't checked it out yet. Paquin said the department will likely have a list of materials left behind by mining companies and their locations by the end of the week.

Paquin called it a "unique year" because of the early winter road closures that left mining companies 3,000 loads short of their target 10,000 loads to be trucked in to the mines.

BHP spokesperson Deana Twissell said she has been assured by company officials that the cement didn't contain any "harmful additives."

"And there's no risk of it getting wet because it's double-bagged and shrink-wrapped," Twissell said.

"When it gets to Ekati, it sits on a lay-down area outside. That's how it's normally stored."

She said the company is transporting the bags to a "lay-down area" by the airport, but it will take two weeks to move it all.

"It will eventually make its way by (Hercules aircraft) up to Ekati," Twissell said.

Northern Metalic owners couldn't be reached for comment. Neither could Char Construction - where a company sign is found next to cement bags on Kam Lake Road.