Mount Wright - Piles of Rocky Waste

---

Click on Photos for larger view.

The overburden pile on June 11, 2001.

There are 4.5 kilometers (2.75 miles) of overburden just along Highway 389 which is the rock and dirt that are removed before reaching the ore body. This is just ONE pile of overburden. There are at least two other huge piles of similar size. All of this rubble has been carried and dumped from the mine site by huge haulage trucks. The road to the left of this pile is the last portion of paved surface of Highway 389. After this, it will be gravel highway for 65 miles.

A view of the overburden in winter. Most of the area, as you can see, is covered with snow; however, if you look closely you can see the darker color waste which has recently been dumped. During the winter, these roads become very slippery as these heavily weighted trucks traverse the new fallen snow. Although I have never had the pleasure of driving one of these trucks when it hits the slick ice, I have been told that if this happens and you are near a drop-off about the only thing you can do is hang on and hope.

Considering that seven months of the year the driving conditions are less then ideal, the trucks are continuously in use, and for half the working year a driver works night shift, there have been very few accidents. This is a testament of the excellent abilities of the haulage trucks drivers, the maintenance people involved in keeping them on the road, and the trucks themselves.