Day: 146

DeBeers Diamond Mine

Temperature: 0F

Location: DeBeer Exploration Camp

Latitude: 70deg 37’ 40’’ N

Longitude: 80deg 03’ 52” W

Distance Traveled: 30 Miles

We had another great day of travel in the midnight hours, we traveled about 30 miles and made it to the DeBeers exploration camp. It was a very beautiful day, clear, and we saw caribou silhouetted against the sun. There were no clouds, but we don’t have to worry about the ultraviolet because we are traveling at night. It was very cool, got down to about zero degrees Fahrenheit, and I was surprised about how cold it was. But the wind wasn’t blowing that much. But we do have a lot of frost. The tents are frosted up, the dogs are frosted up.

A little bit about the DeBeers diamond: The Northwest Territories, now called Nunavut, has been open for the last several years to diamond exploration. And DeBeers, who basically has a monopoly on the diamond market, is up here exploring for diamonds. We are at their camp now, and their drilling site is about 30 miles north of here. There are about 15-16 people in the camp, and they work in two 12 hours shifts. They are drilling holes trying to find timberlite, which is the mineral where diamonds are found. But they just started a couple of months ago. So it is an active place, with helicopters coming in evening and morning to shuttle the crews back and forth. Very friendly people here, a couple of people from Iglulik work here, and it was nice talking with them. And it was nice catching up on the Canadian news.

I’m sitting outside where there is good reception, about 8 p.m. It is still clear outside, probably about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The Arctic is at its absolute best right now. There are long shadows, and I can here the generator of the camp in the distance. It’s actually kind of quiet for a camp, usually there is more hustle and bustle around this time of night.