The ice road has been poor back in 2006, and a huge amount of stuff had to be airlifted at great expense to the Diavik Diamond mine. For tyhee, they are ahead of the curve on fuel, with a massive quantity still in the tanks, but getting a heavy dumptruck up there is the goal this year. I think they will be fine. But when they haul all the stuff up to build the mine, a warm winter could be a real problem.

The only alternatives are heavy lift helicopter for mining equpment broken into parts, trucks on the ice road, or fixed wing airlift (limited size, very expensive).

So let's hope that when the time comes, we have a "normal" minus 30 to minus 40 Centigrade winter and a cold ice road.

GS