The biggest challenge of working through 'break up' is crew and camp logistics. There is about a month where the ice conditions are either to unstable to support aircraft with skis and then not safe enough to land pontoon equipped aircraft (chunks of ice, refreezing, etc). Hence all camp support is by helicopter (in/out/around) which can costs a lot more (2 - 5 times as much).

While the ground conditions can be messy/wet you can lay corduroy or swamp mats for roads/trails for moving between camp and the main drill sights. Wide track equipment can be used. Anything that would have been drilled from ice/water sites are scrapped until next winter.

While the ice may come off the lake in late March/early April the ground and swamps will stay frozen into May.

The main drill areas are well established and probably already have well developed trails to serve them from the camps. If the new satellite exploration targets are any significant distance from camp they would and will be drilled by helicopter support regardless. If they hit anything then they look at putting in a camp or extending the trail system.

Break up is a messy wet time to work but you can manage. Having lost a couple of months and having lots of money NOT would likely work right through it. If the blockade came down tomorrow they could start working as soon as they could get drill crews back on site (probably within a week).

The mobilization of the deep drills would depend on the availability of heavy lift helicopters such as http://www.air-crane.com/index.php. Also the rigs would be broken down into pieces (pieces like engines, pumps, drill masts, chucks, skids etc, drill rod) will be flown into the strip by fixed wing. From there pieces will be towed/skidded or choppered to the drill site and reassembled/re-welded on site if necessary. Only the largest and most awkward will be flown in directly by chopper. I’ve seen dozers, dump truck and drills moved this way. Not cheap but it gets the pieces to the site and then you hire the right people to put it back together again on site.

In the absolute worst case you break it down the rig into big pieces and fly it in directly from the nearest road point but you lose a lot of capacity due to the fuel load they would have to carry.

So break up is a pain but you can work around it. It all comes down to dollars and motivation.

…. Been There