Transportation, Infrastructure, Tailings, and Water Management, Izok Project, Nunavut
For more than 20 years, the Izok Project, a base metal (zinc) property within the Arctic and sub-Arctic region of the Slave Geologic Province extending across Canada’s Northwest Territories and the Nunavut territory, has been in various stages of exploration and feasibility study. Tetra Tech has worked on this project for several project owners since 1992.
Rich in mineral resources with few active mines, the area’s southern portion is accessible only by winter road. The Izok Project is more than 300 kilometers from the Arctic coast, more than 600 kilometers from the public highway system, and accessible only by air.
Tetra Tech has evaluated and developed various transportation options for winter and all-weather roads and rail and slurry pipeline. We have evaluated transportation infrastructure that includes industrial port facilities at various sites on the Arctic coast, barging operations, aviation facilities, and road and rail transfer facilities. Our work has also included preparing an integrated tailings management plan and prefeasibility design of water and tailings management structures (dams, waste piles for acid-generating tailings and waste rock, water diversion channel, and sedimentation ponds).