ODDS’N’SODS — Heavy lifting in the north

Fortunately for the northern mining industry, the calm settling over “hot spots” such as Angola, Iraq and Somali has created easier access to Canada’s only civilian Hercules transport.

Increased global competition for relief and emergency aid has encouraged Yellowknife-based NWT Air to seek domestic markets for its gigantic Lockheed L-100-30 Stretched Hercules aircraft. Previously, the only comparable aerial freighters belonged to the Canadian Armed Forces and were unavailable for non-military purposes.

Some exploration groups charter small airplanes, which entail time-consuming and costly disassembling of oversize machinery and prolonged turnarounds. The turbine-powered Hercules comes with 171.5-cu.-metre capacity and carries up to 22,200 kg, in loads as long as 16 metres. The tail end’s

3-metre-wide-by-2.7-metre-high opening has a hydraulic ramp which lowers to ground level. Heavy-duty rollers enable cargo to be removed within minutes. Loadmaster-cargo specialist Gary Sundberg says complete diamond drill rigs can be boarded in half an hour.

Recently, NWT Air flew 45 trips north from Yellowknife to the 1,500- metre Tundra-Salmita airstrip near MacKay Lake. In a routine mobilization, load-haul-dump machines, jumbos and trucks were offloaded within 65 km of the site and slung by Boeing 234 helicopters. All equipment needed for going underground was flown in for BHP Minerals Canada.

Other project managers opt for road transport. However, northern groups targeting the diamond-bearing kimberlite country face seasonal mud and the possibility of equipment being stranded and inaccessible until freeze-up. “They can build ice roads or they can build a Hercules strip,” says Sundberg. “The ice road goes out and you still have the strip for another six weeks. It costs less to make a temporary runway and, pound for pound, the `Herc’ is the cheapest way to move by air.”

Sundberg adds that NWT Air provides an information booklet to clients considering airstrip construction.

Mining managers expecting to meet deadlines sometimes encounter the grim realities of fuel shortages, regardless of careful planning. Until recent foreign charter cutbacks, NWT Air’s red-and-white Hercules carriers were kept busy shuttling fuel to Danish military posts in Greenland and were, therefore, unavailable. The breakthrough of a bulk tanker to Pelly Bay (in the North Keewatin district of the Territories) also meant that gasoline and heating oil would no longer be hauled by NWT Air, thereby freeing the huge airplane for exploration contracts.

Shortages create astronomical cost overruns. The Stretched Hercules has been modified to carry bulk fuel and is the only such self-contained unit approved for flying in Canada, says Duane Clarke, NWT Air’s manager of cargo sales. Strapped inside the airplane’s cavernous freight compartment, two 6,819-litre containers carry fuel and utilize the heavy hauler’s internal systems for power.

“More than 27,000 litres can be offloaded into a customer’s holding tanks within 15 minutes,” Clarke estimates.

With little political turmoil occurring internationally, this is an opportune time for Canada’s largest civilian transport to work at home. Economic indicators are up and, given current shifts to the north, the mining industry definitely needs a massive “lifter.”

— Robert Grant is an aviation journalist based in Thunder Bay, Ont.