Diamonds, cash coming to standout employees for winter road's 20th anniversary

The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is set to open for the year on Friday morning, marking 20 years of hauling goods between Yellowknife and the N.W.T.'s three diamond mines.

The road is built and maintained by a joint venture between Dominion Diamond Corp., Diavik Diamond Mines and DeBeers Canada. It connects the mines to the rest of the world for several short weeks every year. This year's window will last from Feb. 1 to March 31.

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The roadstarts atTibbitt Lake at the end of the Ingraham Trail and runsabout 400 kilometres northeast to the Ekati, Gahcho Kue and Diavik diamond mines.

To celebrate two decades, the joint venture plans to recognize those who have gone above and beyond in their responsibilities to design, build, maintain and drive on the winter road.

Ron Near is the director of winter road operations for the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture.

He said five standout drivers out of the approximately 600 to 800 who haul on the road will be picked to win $5,000.

"We wanted to look at ways of identifying some of the drivers that have been an integral part of the success of the project," he said.

"Assisting new drivers that have come up to the project, people who have strong leadership skills and show that on a daily basis on the project."

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The drivers will be nominated by their peers and recognized at an awards banquet at the end of March.

Three out of the project's approximately 500 other employees will be picked by their peers to receive a diamond.Each diamond mine along the road has donated a stone.

Everybody from construction staff, engineers, security, to camp cooks are eligible for this prize.

"People who have shown a lot of innovation and improved the equipment and the way we build the road to make it safer than it's ever been," said Near.

Busy year expected

Once open, the public is allowed to drive on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto road, but Near warns people to be extremely cautious if they do.

Over the next several weeks, 8,000 trucks will be hauling 280,000 tonnes of freight. That meansincluding return tripsthere will be 16,000 trucks travelling on the road.

"When you're on the ice road you've got large trucks that are operating on portages, some have sharp turns," said Near.

"Some portages aren't that wide so you may come up on a truck and if you are going too fast, you can't stop. It's a winter road."

Near said this warning doesn't just apply to those who venture onto the winter road itself. Because it connects to Yellowknife via the Ingraham Trail, that road is set to get much busier as well.