HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"
NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)
Message: Navigating the Ring of Fire
Navigating the Ring of Fire Wisk Air Goes for the Gold |
| Written by Blair Watson |
Helicopter operators have come and gone over the past generation in many regions of Canada. One company that has survived national recessions and downturns in Ontario’s economy is Thunder Bay-based Wisk Air. With humble beginnings dating back to 1984, Wisk Air has evolved significantly over the past 26 years and enjoys considerable success because of its employees, its investments in aircraft and specialized equipment, and its commitment to customer service.
Wisk Air is the brainchild of Mark Wiskemann, entrepreneur, 18,000-hour helicopter pilot, manager, and more. From 1981 to 1988, Mark was base manager in Red Lake, Ont., for Midwest Helicopters. Between 1988 and 1996, he was area manager for the company, working out of Thunder Bay. When Midwest’s shareholders decided to close down the company in 1996, Mark was given the opportunity to buy the Thunder Bay part of the business, which he did. Between 1984 and 1996, Wiskemann was involved in leasing rotary-wing aircraft with Wisk Air; clients included Frontier and Canadian Helicopters. Transport Canada issued an operator certificate to Wisk Air in October 1996 when the company’s workforce consisted of just Wiskemann and an AME. Today, it comprises 12 pilots, 9 AMEs, and 25 employees in support roles. When Wisk Air first started operations there was just one helicopter, a Bell 206B. Today, the all-Bell fleet comprises three 407s, two 206 LongRanger L-Rs, and a LongRanger L-3.
Wisk Air’s success is substantially due to the variety of its operations, including transportation of people, supplies and equipment for mining companies, timber harvesting, forest firefighting, airborne surveys of utilities infrastructure, airlifting personnel and cargo for power companies and provincial ministries, and aerial photographic surveys. Nearly two-thirds of Wisk Air’s business comes from mining-related flying. Gold, nickel, copper, silver, palladium, platinum, minerals and diamonds have all been found in the Canadian Shield of northern Ontario. In August 2007, Noront Resources made a surprise discovery of high-grade nickel-copper-platinum mineralization on its Double Eagle project, which covers 1,100 square kilometres in the James Bay Lowlands. Noront Resources and other companies are working diligently to find more “massive nickel” and chromium, which if located, would make building a $70-million road to the area economically viable. The total value of the metals and minerals is estimated in excess of $500 million. The need to find valuable natural resources is a major reason Noront hired Wisk Air to fly in the “Ring of Fire,” as the area is known in the mining industry. On its website, Noront describes the region as “remote” and “infrastructure-poor” – ideal for helicopters. Extracting core samples involves drills made up of pieces weighing 1,000 kilograms or more. With no roads to access new drilling sites, Wisk Air’s Bell 407 is used to airlift disassembled drill pieces as well as geologists, technicians, supplies, and equipment such as ski-doos and all-terrain vehicles. According to the Bell Helicopter website, the 407 has a maximum external useful load of nearly 2,650 pounds (1,200 kilograms). To move a single drill involves a dozen flights or more. Wisk Air bought the first Bell 407 – a “dream to fly and a pleasure to operate,” according to Wiskemann – in 2005 specifically to move mining drills, and has done so across Canada since. Exploration work in the “Ring of Fire” continues virtually year-round, although less activity occurs during the transition months of March and November when the ground is thawing or freezing. One of the resource company camps serviced by Wisk Air is three hours north of Thunder Bay by helicopter. A helipad, crew accommodations, and other facilities were constructed at the site. Wisk Air rotates a pilot and AME to the camp where the 407 can be stationed for weeks or months at a time, depending on mining companies’ requirements. If an aircraft part needs to be rushed in and Wisk Air’s other aircraft are being used for other flying work, two companies provide floatplane service to a lake near the camp. As for the rest of Wisk Air’s fleet, last summer the second Bell 407 was involved in firefighting operations in British Columbia, where 3,045 wildfires burned 244,379 hectares. In August, the 407 returned to Ontario to fly a hydro contract and do more mining work. Wisk Air’s operating certificate is valid for operations across Canada. The 206L-3 was used on a mining contract in northern Quebec to transport people, equipment and supplies. One of Wisk Air’s LongRangers is also flying for a local mining company, and the other is based in Thunder Bay to meet local charter needs. The fleet flies about 2,000 hours annually. Like mining, forestry is a cyclical industry, and currently in decline in northern Ontario. However, when times were better a decade ago, Wisk Air was approached by a forestry company to partner on the development of a novel aerial photography system, which is still operational. The system involves a film camera mounted in each end of a long boom that is attached to the belly of a helicopter. The cameras take stereoscopic (overlapping) photos, which provide 3-D imagery. GPS data-logging software keeps track of the latitude and longitude of each picture as well as the helicopter’s altitude at the instant of exposure. Accuracy of the system is plus or minus half a metre in three dimensions, a remarkable achievement. Navigation along photo lines is GPS-based and done via a display in the cockpit. The camera system, which took two years to develop, has been used on aerial surveys in Canada and the United States. Two other pieces of specialized equipment operated by Wisk Air are a heli-claw and aerial ignition device (a drip torch). The heli-claw is used to clear beaver dams from waterways where rising water during rain showers is blocked from flowing downstream and threatens to wash out roads and rail lines. The powerful device does the work of 10 people and is also employed in forestry operations. The drip torch is utilized for backburns, destroying vegetation ahead of a forest fire and robbing it of fuel. http://www.helicoptersmagazine.com/content/view/2016/61/ |
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