Working through 'Break Up' is a little more difficult than in the summer but not much. Movement of men and supplies into camp is by helicopter. Drill moves will be typically be by helicopter if they are working in what would be the swampy areas. If it was me I would have brought in a skidder or similar heavy logging equipment this winter. Maybe even a dozer with wide tracks.

Break up happens over a couple of weeks. First the snow melts off, the ice changes to a milky gray white colour and becomes very weak (no more ski equipped planes). A couple of days of good wind and it breaks into large floats and chunks (that prevent pontoon equipped planes from landing). Once the ice breaks up it will all be gone in a matter of a week.

The situation on land is different. In the open the snow will melt a little slower than on the lakes but in the bush you can still find snow in mid-May. Even when the snow melts the ground will be frozen underneath (Remember we are only 500KM or so south of where there is permafrost).

Moving drills around during break up is doable but muddy and messy. Once everything melts we will find out how much of the area is really 'swamp' vs. dry land. Drilling in a swamp during the summer is just about impossible and drilling on a muskeg bog (a layer of organics and moss sitting/floating on a swamp is almost equally challenging.

Bottom line. If there is dirt/land where they want to drill Break Up will make it a little tougher but it has been done many times before. If the anomalies are under lakes, swamps, muskeg etc they probably won't get drilled during the spring/summer unless the drill can set up back away from the swamp (etc) and drill under the swampy area.

Suprisingly by late May early June the fire hazard will get extreme because of the lack of rain. nad dry winds. In fact the government often shuts down drill projects as part of its fire prevention strategy. Just so you are aware its probable that we will have the whole project shut down several times during the summer during periods of hight to extreme fire hazard.

Now you know why companies in the JBL area almost always prefer to drill in the winter.

... Been There