Hello Frank
I'm buried right now but will try to take a look at all your links this weekend - perhaps at half time since no Jackson sisters are performing this year!!!! :-)
Building and driving on muskeg and land with ice lensing(es) are common problems up here and in Russia and reliable techniques have been developed long ago which don't involve the need for a great deal of gravel or rubber tired vehicles. In many ways, building and mining in and near jungle rivers such as in Brazil, Angola, etc. have many similar problems.
Bottom line in the north, keep things frozen, use floating foundations, thermo-siphons(sp?) and where necessary - hovercraft, pipelines and conveyors, not trucks.
As for going underground, I'm sure that if the Russians can do it, DeBeers can. Water infiltration is a common problem up here and in Northern Ontario and there is always a solution so long as the ore is worth it. At $75 per tonne however, I suspect it isn't, but if Victor ends up averaging the $180/t you suggested, that's a very different story.
Where gravel is needed, DB's will no doubt use waste from the mining operation. The key to building on muskeg is not to disturb the surface and in fact to insulate it from any disturbance or from melting the underlying permafrost.
Everything has a solution up here if you keep it simple, use common sense and go with nature not against it.
Keep well.
Vaughn |
