Mining in NWT is a year round operation. Extreme cold is business as usual, and people are out doing x-country skiing, skijoring, skidooing and Ice fishing even when it is so cold the air in your lungs freezes before it has left your mouth! Extreme cold is looked at as a plus, as it allows more freight to be pushed up the ice roads.

For Tyhee, extreme cold allows drills access to sites that can not be drilled in summer due to bogs and shallow lakes. The mill will be heated. Underground workings do not care about cold, and surface working is done in all weather equpment or suitable clothing.

Machines function well in extreme cold, as long as they are rigged right.

Access up the ice road is affected by it not being cold enough, however. So a road would ultimately be much better than the seasonal ice road. If they do take electric power from blue fish, it may be worth it to build a road passing all of Tyhee properties along the way.

This is not the sort of extreme engineering you hear about for oil rigs in the Beaufort Basin or other arctic locations. It is business as usual in Canada. It gets just as cold in Quebec, in fact.

SKELLIG