An unusually warm winter in Canada this year has delayed the opening of a 400-kilometer ice road, a vital pathway for Rio Tinto, Burgundy Mines, and De Beers to access their diamond mines in the remote Arctic region.
The Winter Road, which is rebuilt annually over 64 frozen lakes, serves as the main conduit for goods to the area accessible only by air for 10 months of the year. This year, the road opened two weeks later than usual in mid-February, disrupting the movement of essential supplies.
Earlier this week, the Tlicho authorities in the Northwest Territories (NWT) restricted the movement of commercial trucks for a few days on one of the winter roads due to anticipated warmer weather across the North Slave Region.
While diamond production remains unaffected, the delay highlights the ongoing challenges companies face as Canada, the world's third-largest diamond producer, approaches the end of its productive mining life. It also underscores the infrastructure hurdles for the NWT and Nunavut, which are emerging as new frontiers in the exploration of critical metals like rare earth elements, cobalt, and lithium, essential for the transition to a greener future.
The delays in building the Winter Road, which first became operational in 1982, have occurred before, but this year's delay is the longest in recent years, according to Tom Hoefer, a senior advisor to the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. \"We did start the road a bit later as a result,\" Hoefer explained.
Climate change, fueled by the burning of fossil fuels and the natural El Niño climate pattern, has pushed the world into record heat territory in 2023. The impact of El Niño this year led to Yellowknife, the capital of the NWT, recording a maximum temperature of zero degrees Celsius in December and minus 8.7 degrees Celsius in February, marking the warmest winter days in a decade, according to Environment Canada.
The Winter Road typically opens between late January and early April and requires a minimum of 74 centimeters of ice to support vehicles carrying 26,000 kilograms of gross vehicle weight, transporting diesel and dynamite needed to operate the mines.
On warmer days, engineers have employed techniques to create artificial ice using giant sprinklers that spray water high into the air, allowing it to cool and form a thick layer of ice as it falls.
Paul Gruner, CEO of the Indigenous corporation Tlicho Investment Corp & Group of Companies, warned that this year's warm winter start and the possibility of a warmer end or an early spring could risk an early closure of the Winter Road. \"So when you're nibbling away on both sides of that, you start to create a very short season,\" Gruner said.
Reference(s):
Canada's mild winter disrupts ice road to remote Arctic diamond mines
cgtn.com
