I went up north for my first two-week rotation at the diamond project (i.e. a mine under construction). I spent two days in Yellowknife before I got up to the mine because we couldn't fly due to bad weather. I got to see a little bit of this northern capital, which was nice. On the way from Vancouver to Edmonton I finagled myself into first class, which was also nice.
They don't allow cameras on site but I got some photos from somebody else who DID have authorization to take photos. The first photos are from the summer around the mine, followed by my photos from Yellowknife, followed by Paolone's photos from his recent trip up to the mine. Dan Paolone is another UBC Mining Engineering student who works for one of the contractors at the Snap Lake Project.
The mine is 220km NE of Yellowknife and very near the tree line. The vegetation seen in the winter is very interesting because of the sparseness of tree growth. Small withered trees cling together in tiny patches, separated from other trees on the tundra by hundreds of meters. Plus with the hoarfrost coating everything, the trees look more like snow sculptures than life forms. The temperature during my two weeks ranged from -20 to -35 (during the day, and without windchill consideration).
Click the thumbnail above for the gallery.