Arctic mining, with its harsh climatic conditions and isolated lifestyle, presents immense difficulties to the mining companies that operate there and it takes special kinds of people to overcome them.
Such a person was the guest speaker at the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum’s most recent luncheon in Toronto. During a career spanning 35 years, Hank Giegerich, former president of Cominco’s (TSE) Alaska division, directed the construction of the Red Dog and Polaris lead-zinc operations, two of the world’s most northerly mines.
As a project engineer on the Black Angel zinc mine in west Greenland, he oversaw the installation of the world’s second largest ore-carrying tramway. The facility was designed to move 2,000 tons of material daily from the mine site on the side of a cliff, across a fjord to the plant below.
Giegerich was also involved in running the Con gold and Pine Point lead-zinc mines in the Northwest Territories.
“The challenges of developing an arctic mine are immense,” said the 60-year-old mining engineer. “These difficulties require new and different approaches, plus innovative engineering, to overcome the associated economic penalties.”
For example, because the Polaris mine is 900 miles from the North Pole and located in permafrost down to 1,200 ft. below surface, work crews had to install a refrigeration plant in order to cool the mine ventilation air during the warmer summer months, said Giegerich. “This was Cominco’s version of selling refrigerators to the Eskimos.” A native of Quebec, Giegerich is running a mining consulting business after retiring from Cominco last June.
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