I left the warmth of my home and headed to Yellowknife’s early spring with temperatures of -23 to -34oC on March 29, with my final destination the Lupin Mine site in Nunavut. When we landed on April 1st it was -30oC with a wind that would rip the feathers off a goose. I now have a visual image of what hell will look like when it’s frozen over and the Leafs win Lord Stanley’s Cup . The tundra is an awesome and unforgiving place, anyhow we arrived safely to a frozen camp (the camp had been winterized and there is no heat, no water but we do have hydro. On the work front the crew is busy getting the equipment running, no easy chore, they are using frost fighters to warn the equipment, and clearing the snow from the access roads. The snow up here has the feel of Styrofoam but the strength of concrete, its easer to cut it with a saw than to shovel it.
The photos are taken from the Dornier, the top one is below the tree
line and on the bottom one is from above the tree line.
The Lupin Mine Site. You can see that
orange head frame from miles away.
The Dornier, at Lupin mine site.
The front door of the camp.
Day 2 and we still have to figure out the toilets (currently we have a
5 gal. pail and plastic bags), the water supply (there is 6’2” of ice on the
lake, that’s three extensions on the auger to just get through the ice)
Oh, by the way the owners of the camp we are staying at have let their
water license laps, what that means to us is, we are not allowed to take any
water from the lake for drinking, washing or cooking, and we were sent up with
only one 20L jug to do for 7 guys. We have had to place a second food order
already as there were only a few boxes of food on the two full flights in. we
are still working on getting the trucks up and running as well as the
incinerator so we can burn the garbage and waste. I know some people (who shall
remain nameless, Lee) who would like to come up here to experience what it’s
like to work in this kind of cold, but it’s not fun. The wind makes your eyes
water and the -30C freezes the tears to your eyelashes, exposed skin burns and
fingers go numb even with your gloves on. When you move you sweat due to all
the heavy clothing you have to wear to keep warm and then when you stand still
you get cold. On the plus side we did manage to get the fuel truck running for
a while before it sprang an oil leak and was towed to the shop for repairs.
RTV100 with the ice profiler (basically a
GPR system with specific software for dealing with ice)
The route that we would end up taking with
the ice road.
The fear is that if we use the RTV1100 or even a pickup to do the ice
profile they will get hung up on the snow drifts on the lake. A skidoo would be
the way to go except that the computer that is attached to the profiler likes
to stay warm and riding on the back of a sled just does not cut it. As you can
see working in these temperatures has its challenges, gaskets freeze and crack,
you’re a long way from the Canadian Tire parts department and to get things
done you have to think outside the box and be creative. On the plus side we did
get the incinerator to burn its first load of garage, but not before the ravens
had torn into some of the bags open and picked through the rubbish and we did
get the Pacto toilet set up and running (it’s basically the same setup we had
before except this time we have a toilet seat and the unit ties the bags). I
can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Summit Air’s Buffalo delivering supplies.
The new ice profiling rig, brand new a Polaris Ranger,
let’s see how long it lasts.
Sun set on the tundra.
And on the 5th day we had indoor plumbing! Thanks to the
miracle of Pex piping we now have: 1 shower and 2 flush toilets in camp, all we
need is to get the water truck up and running and we’ll be all set.
The ice profiling team made an initial 10km run and found that the ice
is averaging 1.98 meters thick, so the grader was put into action plowing the
ice road.
Ploughing the ice road, the snow is so
hard the grader just bounced along on the first pass.
The second 10km run found no change in the ice conditions up to approximately
the 19km mark where a pressure ridge was encountered. After exploring the ridge
for a way around and finding none they chose the best place to cross it. The
grader plowed its way into the ridge to clear the way for the road and got
stuck, it took several hours to get the beast out of the ice before we could
fill in the ruts left by the tires with snow. We hoped that this would freeze
and allow us all to pass over tomorrow.
The grader stuck on/in the pressure
ridge.
Day 6 and the water truck is now running and supplying water to the
camp, our plumbing works and so the lineup begins. Not so much for the shower
but for the toilets. The snow that we had packed the day before was not
freezing (at -300C and with a wind you would think it would have frozen
solid)
Checking the pressure ridge.
but we did manage to get over with the grader and the pickup truck, the
Polaris could climb over anywhere he wanted and did.
They profiled an additional 20 km of ice before the track blew off the
Polaris and it had to return to camp for repairs. Once the field fix was in the
polaris returned to guide the grader along the proposed road centerline
It then went mechanical with a broken belt and a frozen heater (at -30
with a wind, what do you expect, these machines were not ment for this type of
work). It was now time to return to camp with the Polaris in tow. This time the
grader made it through pressure ridge number 1, but the others had to be towed.
The trip home through the pressure ridge,
grader pulling the pick-up, pick-up pulling the ranger.
Setting up a mile marker, this one is
called John.
April 7 was a day of repair work, for the Polaris, the trucks and the
heavy equipment we would be taking to the site. We also installed a bridge over
pressure ridge 1.
The setup.
The first pass over.
No worries for the truck now.
Our camp is really starting to take shape, we now communications (very
limited internet and phone) to add to the list. However we are still limited to
line of site with the radios.
We made land fall on the island today (sounds exotic doesn’t it) with
the ice road and will now spend the day trying to widen it to 100ft to keep it
from drifting in.
The beach landing, this would be drifted
in by the next morning.
As the buildings on the island (the ones that we were to take down and
remove) are snowed in, this will push back our remediation schedule. We will
now have to add this to the summer program.
A shore lunch is served.
Heading to the island.
A view across the lake.
Today the two-way radios were installed in the
pick-up, the grader and the excavator which we will be taking to site; this
means that we now have communications from the camp to the site. The engineers
report outlining the weight and speed restrictions for ice road was released
and we started moving equipment to the island. It looked like a parade of
equipment gypsies heading across the ice,
The grader pulling the excavator,
the rock truck pulling the seacan and
The pickup pulling the emergency shelter,
all this with a 3 tracked, 1 ski Polaris limping along providing escort.
188 steel drums were collected on the island, placed in the seacan and
dragged back to camp, by the grader, for crushing tomorrow.
Steel drums on route to Lupin Mine site.
To This.
It saves a lot of room for shipping.
It saves a lot of room for shipping.
...and I took a 5 cent tour of the Lupin Mine site. Wow, in its day it
must have been very impressive to see, but now it’s dark, cold and spooky. I
was told by the mechanic (who has worked here on and off for several years in
care and maintenance) that the place is hunted.
You can see where the stories come from, when you walk into the dry and
your flashlight casts the shadows of bodies hanging from the rafters, but upon
closer examination it’s just the baskets (hanging lockers where the miners hang
there underground clothing to dry) hanging with the oilers draped from the
hooks below. The place has the feeling that the employees just got up and left
one day.
Loading the drums that we collected into
the seacan for transport back to the mine site.
Spring has finally arrived (on April 14?), I think, the day started at
-20o but by 2pm it was near 0o with no wind for a change,
we had water running off the roof of the camp. Today was a busy day of crushing
drums and palletizing equipment and supplies and readying the seacan for
tomorrow. There are back to back Hercules
flights scheduled for tomorrow.
Just some general photos:
The access to the lake from the mine.
On the lake following the
grader.
What over 7 feet of ice looks like.
Sundogs
over the tundra.
Objects may not be as large or as fast
moving as they appear.
Removing
the radio antenna.
Sheds found on site while hunting for
drums.
The Hercules C-130J, Unloading, look at
the size of the loader and he still fits under the tail.
Skit steer, skids of plywood, soil bags
of hydrocarbon treatment and 2 ATVs.
This flight left for home with a full
load of drilling equipment. When the second flight landed it was unloaded of:
15 pallets per lift by 3 lifts, over-pack
drums and a boat.
And sent home with all the drums and
tanks we had collected.
The flight recorder (aka. The black box)
it’s orange.
And the cockpit.
The rest of the day (mostly after supper) was spent organizing the
equipment for transport to the island.
April 16, our trip to the island was canceled due to strong winds and
blowing snow. The problem is not getting to the island but in the getting back,
if the wind picks up or is stronger at the island end we could get stranded
some where in between and with only a Kubota to rescue us..well enough said. Realizing
that we there may be only one day to get everything to the island we repacked
and formulated a new plan, who would be driving what, pulling what and who
would make the return trips while the others were building the fuel storage
area and stashing the equipment.
A view down the access roar to the lake
from the mine site.
Sunrise on the lake.
The fuel truck had some problems climbing over the bridge, but in the
end it did make it on its own.
Upon inspection of the ridge we did notice that the ice had/was
shifting at this time there were more cracks forming and the main opening was
getting wider. It was still safe to travel on but likely not for much (I’m
talking days not hours) longer.
We made it to the island without incident and while we started to work
on our tasks of building the fuel storage area, setting up the survival tent
and reading the equipment for the start of the summer program, the grader made
the return trip to the camp to pick up the seacan, we would not see him again
until late afternoon. On the way out the
bridge had to be pulled and again the crack had gotten bigger.
Our completed fuel storage area,
emergency shelter and in the background on the right is the arrival of the
grader with the seacan.
The same crack as above, 14 hours later.
Pulling the bridge.
April 18 and up and moving at 05:00 to get the camp shut down (water
tanks and lines drained, sewage dumped, power shut down, all the fuel tanks
filled to 90% and all buildings secured) and the equipment fueled put away as
quickly as possible as the flight is due to land at 08:00 and return us to Yellowknife.
Well “the best laid plans of mice and men…” we can’t put the equipment away as
we needed the loader to haul and dump the sewage tanks and to move the luggage
and food (that we must take from camp) down to the airstrip, the grader needed
to make a pass down the landing strip to clear the snow drifts, and the pickup
was needed to fuel all the tanks, the Kubotas were in use moving people in every
direction, in the end we did get all the work done and the plane only had to
hold for an hour and a half. I spent the rest of the day gearing down (sorting
through my gear, cleaning it and deciding what to leave behind) and getting
ready for the flight home.
I ended up getting a flight out of Yellowknife at 13:30 and arrived in
Stayner at 02:00 on Sunday just in time for the Easter egg hunt.
Cheers from Lupin Mine site on Contwoyto Lake Nunavut.
I’ll have more when we get into the summer program.
