The harsh economics of the Arctic
The world craves polar minerals. But who wants to work in a frozen wasteland?
As if the snow and the cold and the dark weren’t bad enough, a coyote sneaked into the cooking tent and chewed through the camp’s electrics. It blew the fuse on the fridge-freezer and ruined months’ worth of food. The three geologists who were living in the camp, just off the Dempster Highway, an ice road into Canada’s Northwest Territories, had to get a new generator. That meant a week-long round trip to the nearest town, Whitehorse, 900km away.
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This article appeared in the Christmas Specials section of the print edition under the headline “The harsh economics of the Arctic”
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