Mount Wright - Haulage Trucks

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This photograph was taken about three-quarters of a mile from the overburden pile. Quebec Cartier Mining dumps the overburden (waste rock) along Highway 389 from km marker 547 to about 551 (2½ miles). The haulage truck preparing to dump overburden is approximately 6.7 m (22 ft) tall; therefore, the pile is approximately seven times as tall as the truck or about 50m (164 ft) in height. Another gauge to determine sizes in Labrador and Northern Quebec is the trees are black spruce and are about 25 to 30 feet (7-9 meter) tall.

The overburden pile on September 13, 2000.

Overburden is used to create the network of roads used by the haulage trucks. In the middle center of the lowest road, you can see the top of an orange haulage truck. These roads are wide enough to easily manage two-way traffic of 20 foot (6 m) wide haulage trucks. We would see haulage trucks passing each other about every five minutes. One loaded on the way to the crusher or overburden pile and the other empty on its way back to the pit for another load. The immensity of mountains of rock in the background dwarfing these huge trucks. For those that remember Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock, this area will remind you of the Doozers - minus the catchy songs.