Ice Road Truckers

[enrieb]

This thread isnt really about investing in shares, but it does offer an insight into the problems that mines can face. Ice roads are essential temporary supply routes that Northern Arctic mines depend upon, a bad year for Ice Road trucking will translate into a bad year for mines and for shares.

 

 

Ice roads (ice crossings, ice bridges) are frozen, human-made structures on the surface of bays, rivers, lakes, or seas in the far north. They link dry land, frozen waterways, portages and winter roads, and are usually remade each winter. Ice roads allow temporary transport to areas with no permanent road access. Seen in isolated regions of northern Canada, Alaska's Bush, northern Scandinavia and Russia, they reduce the cost of materials that otherwise would ship as expensive air freight, and they allow movement of large or heavy objects for which air freight is impractical.

 

Ice roads differ from winter roads in that they are built primarily across frozen waterways. Ice roads may be winter substitutes for summer ferry service. Ferry service and an ice crossing may operate yearly at the same time for several weeks

 

 

Ice Road Truckers is a reality/documentary tv series that shows how the Gold and Diamond mines are supplied by the Ice Roads built over frozen lakes. A warm winter can shorted the life of an ice road, resulting in the mine not getting the supplies it needs to operate, the ice roads are extremely dangerous and lives can be lost along with crucial mining equipment, without which the mine cannot operate.

 

This documentary should help give an understanding to the supply problems that mining companies can face, bad weather, a short Ice Road season, an Ice Road closed by an accident or a crucial piece of mining equipment being damaged or lost could have a major impact on the share price.

 

 

The full season 1 is on youtube here.

 

Ice Road Truckers

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWfHowTGMBo

 

You can also find season 2 on youtube, which documents the supply problems facing a gas explorer and the difficulties they face as they move an entire exploration site.

[jerpy]

Watched these programs on how they trained the drivers with some fascination. Brave guys (and gals from memory), those whiteout driving conditions easily have them over the edge.

 

Just transporting parts anywhere up there is a major achievement. Maybe a bit basic in script and story but really enjoyed watching the series, one of the better real life drama programs worth spending time viewing.

[littledavesab]

I remember watching this a few years back. Think it may even have predated my interest in the natural resources game. Quite fascinating. Much better than the usual trucker docu real life programmes.

[G0ldfinger]

I watched it all when I was in the US in summer. Quite entertaining.