The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture says it is confident that the winter road to the diamond mines will be ready by first half of February, despite challenges posed by mild temperatures.
Construction of the route is about 75 per cent complete and most of the lakes have enough ice thickness to support the heavy loads, according to Barry Henkel, the director of winter road operations for the joint venture.
“The warm weather will prevent some final ice growths, yes, but we’re already looking at over 73 centimeters of ice on the majority of the lakes as it is right now. So, all in all, I’m not so worried about it,” said Henkel.
He explained that the construction of the 400-km winter road usually starts in mid-December every year.
This year’s schedule is still in line with previous years — the road opened on Feb. 7 in 2023 — and the cold weather in January helped considerably, Henkel noted.
He added that the road is safe and there’s no risk of flooding or slushiness on the surface.
It’s estimated that approximately 6,000 loads will go north this year.