Landing a plane on ice is something only a handful of pilots will do in their careers. Creating a safe runway for those pilots is something only a few firms have the knowledge and skill to execute safely. EBA, A Tetra Tech Company, is a leader in the field.

2,400-meter on-ice runway on Doris Lake is pictured with the Doris Camp in the background. Used by permission of Jason Pineau and Newmont Mining.

 

 

Click photo to enlarge and view location labels.

EBA’s ice engineering work at Newmont’s Hope Bay mining venture in Northern Canada was recently praised by client Newmont Mining and charter air provider Canadian North Airlines.

Hope Bay, a gold project currently in the exploratory stages, sits in a remote location 190 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle in the Canadian Arctic. For projects like Hope Bay, access by air provides a lifeline for crew changes twice a week and the supply of equipment and consumables.

EBA’s Volker Neth and his team provided ice engineering expertise to design and implement a 2,400 meters long runway on frozen Doris Lake at Hope Bay.

The lake ice had to be thickened artificially by 90 centimeters (35.4 inches) in order to land a Boeing 737 on it – which is exactly what Canadian North Airlines recently did! The pilot who flew the first flight on January 5, 2012, characterized the landing strip as “hands down the best he’s ever seen.”

Numerous calculations, weeks of ice-thickening and monitoring, and a detailed risk review ensured the safety and stability of the air strip. It also features the implementation of the first-ever GPS approach to an ice strip.

“Our team’s success in getting the air strip in at Hope Bay early saves the client millions in using the strip at the site rather than transshipping smaller loads,” said Paul Ruffell, president of EBA. “Volker Neth (the real Mr. Ice) is the hero of this story.”

For more information about this project, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Learn more about Tetra Tech's Circumpolar Initiative and Circumpolar service offerings.

Star denotes location of the Hope Bay project. Blue squares are Tetra Tech offices. Click map to enlarge.