Yellowknife (Mar 29/06) - The Tibbitt-Contwoyto ice road was officially put out of its misery for this year after allowing a scant 30 more trucks to inch out to the mines.

The road was closed last week due to concerns about ice thickness on Waite Lake, but reopened during the colder night hours this past weekend. In the end, the mines and exploration companies came up 2,118 deliveries short of their goal of getting 9,000 truckloads of fuel and supplies out via this seasonal lifeline.

“With the warm weather, the portages and the ice conditions weakened,” said Tom Hoefer spokesperson for the Joint Venture Management Committee.

Businesses are now being forced to find new ways to get the supplies they need shipped or make due with less.

De Beers Canada has two sites that depend on the now closed road.

The Snap Lake diamond mine is still under construction with it slated to begin initial production in the late stages of 2007.

De Beers also has begun the permitting process on its proposed Gahcho Kue project with partners Mountain Province Diamonds and Camphor Ventures. De Beers had projected getting 2,200 loads between its two sites, said spokesperson Linda Dorrington adding 600 of those trucks never made it out.

“Our project team is looking at how to modify our work plan,” she said.

The company may have to fly up additional fuel, but she said there were no major problems.

Leaving the door open to delaying efforts at Gahcho Kue to better support Snap Lake, Dorrington said the project team is still “looking at further work schedules.”

At BHP Billiton’s Ekati mine, 95 per cent of the cargo needed arrived in time.

“BHP Billiton managed to ship up 3,170 truckloads,” said senior external affairs officer Deana Twissell, adding they only missed out on 184 rigs.

Rather than fly fuel to the site, the company is prepared to conserve what it has and make it last for the year.

“We will be implementing an energy management plan and we should be in reasonable shape,” she said.