Canada's mild winter disrupts key ice road to remote Arctic diamond mines

[bing101]

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-mild-winter-disrupts-key-ice-road-remote-arctic-diamond-mines-2024-03-30/


The ice roads affected are to mines in the northwest territoried.

An unusually warm winter in Canada this year has delayed the opening of a 400-kilometer (250-mile) ice road that is rebuilt every year as the main conduit for Rio Tinto (RIO.L), opens new tab, Burgundy Mines (BDM.AX), opens new tab, and De Beers to access their diamond mines in the remote Arctic region. The Winter Road, which serves the region accessible only by air for 10 months of the year, opened with a two-week delay in the middle of February, disrupting movement of goods along the ice road built over 64 frozen lakes. Earlier this week, the Tlicho government in Northwest Territories (NWT) restricted movement of commercial trucks for few days in one of the winter roads due to anticipated warmer weather across, opens new tab the North Slave Region. While diamond production remains unaffected, the delay underscores the challenges that companies face as the mines that make Canada the world's third largest diamond producer come to the end of their productive life.

[JREwing78]

Not only does this warmth mean less time they're able to ship goods by truck to the mines, it also heavily limits the weight of those trucks able to use the ice road. There's also strict limits on how frequently trucks can be sent up, and how quickly they can traverse the road.

Looks like a lot of air freight for the urgent stuff for the next year.