Warming Shortens Ice Road Season In NWT By A Month - FT

Unusually warm weather has melted ice roads in the Canadian Arctic, forcing their early closure and disrupting supplies to mines, exploration sites and remote communities. Authorities in the Northwest Territories build 1,450km of winter roads each year. The busiest, running 420km north-east from Yellowknife, was closed on March 21, almost three weeks earlier than normal, after opening 10 days late.

The route, which spans more than 30 frozen lakes, is used to bring in fuel, construction equipment and other bulk supplies from the south. It serves the big Ekati and Diavik diamond mines, as well as De Beers’ Snap Lake project, currently under construction. A total of 6,882 truckloads were transported along the road this winter, well short of the 9,000 loads anticipated.

BHP Billiton has begun rationing fuel and has implemented an energy-saving plan at the Ekati mine, where 15 per cent of this year’s fuel supplies remain undelivered. Hercules aircraft will be used to fly in much of the undelivered equipment, incl­uding a large underground drill. A spokeswoman said: “We don’t expect any major changes to our mine plan or budgeted output.” De Beers has been unable to ship a quarter of its cargo, including housing for 200 construction workers at Snap Lake. A committee that operates the road said many loads that had already arrived in Yellowknife would be put in storage, returned to tankage or shipped south for repackaging for later delivery by air.

Marv Robinson, the president of Robinson Trucking of Yellowknife, said his company typically assigned about 400 trucks to the winter road, with 650 drivers and back-up staff. “Some people come from all over Canada to work on this,” Mr Robinson said. “When you can’t use the road, all these people lose revenue”.

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http://news.ft.com/cms/s/134e4698-c5c8-11da-b675-0000779e2340.html

The cornucopia of economic benefits we reap from blowing off Kyoto is simply to fruitful to encompass.