Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 14, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Increasingly unpredictable winter weather patterns and ever-growing haulage needs are forcing local mining companies to step up their contingency plans for the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road.

A truck from RTL hauls equipment used to crush rock on the secondary winter road last year. A change to the route - having trucks go northeast from Prosperous Lake to Thistlethwaite Lake, as opposed to smaller, more vulnerable lakes - is on track for the upcoming winter season. - photo courtesy of Tom Hoefer

The Joint Venture Management Committee - on which Diavik Diamond Mines and BHP Billiton Diamonds both sit - has again commissioned RTL Robinson Enterprises to construct a secondary winter road.

But the committee has also requested that an improvement be made to the secondary route.

While a fair portion of the secondary route - the trek northward from Prosperous Lake up to Thistlethwaite Lake - will remain the same, instead of dipping southward the road will continue in a northeast direction, eventually joining up with the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road at the north end of Gordon Lake.

The alteration is meant to avoid smaller lakes, which are more prone to breaks in the ice and to improve travel time, says Tom Hoefer, manager of communications and external relations for Diavik.

"We believe this will be an improved route - better than the (secondary road) built last year," said Hoefer.

"It won't take as much time."

In Hoefer's eyes, the more roads, the better.

"The winter load requirements have just been increasing every year," says Hoefer. "Last year we hauled 10,000 loads - a record. There's just this constant demand to haul more and more up the road. And when you (add) a warm winter, you have a recipe for failure."

In 2006, when one of the lakes on the main road gave way, Diavik had to ship supplies by plane - a costly measure the company wants to avoid in the future, said Hoefer.

"Price per pound, (it costs) four to eight times more to fly," said Hoefer.

RTL has received a five-year permit allowing for the construction of the alternate route and its additions.

The company expects this winter's operations will create more jobs than last year, although the exact amount of subcontract positions has not been determined yet, said Cheryl Robinson, communications and marketing co-ordinator for RTL.

"We're having preliminary talks with several aboriginal organizations, including the Deton'Cho Corporation, on doing some subcontract work," said Robinson.

"This year, we're not only creating the road, we're also going to be utilizing the road more. So we're going to need more flooding crews."