Must See Demolition at Ontario's 1st an only open pit diamond mine.

Must see demolition of the infrastructure at the Victor Mine, where calling in for backup isn't an option. Priestly Demolition flies in additional heavy equipment by Hercules aircraft (piece by piece) to complete the project in this remote location near James Bay in Northern Ontario, and Ontario's 1st and only open pit diamond mine.

[@sideshowbob2882]

I wish these videos were longer, I could watch this all day.

[@pqworks9019]

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen demolition equipment have to be brought to a job by plane!!!! It was also cool to see the giant dump trucks being used!!! Awesome work!!!!

[@LordXeonthesecond]

It is incredible that this is a financially viable final solution for end of life of this mine. Great video.

[@cerberus0413]

They must have made sooooooooo much money from that hole in the ground.

[@andrewalexander9492]

I'm pretty sure that any new mine being proposed in Canada has to have a plan for remediation, and a means of financing that remediation. If the revenue from the mine doesn't pay for the required remediation, the min won't be started.

[@rctrucksamerica6868]

Cost them 1.8 billion to set up it was paid off the next year. Best diamonds in the world came out of this pit.

[@larrydawes6673]

Very sad to see. I was there for the full construction of this mine. When we arrived we stayed in tents and progressed from there

[@pacemetalfab]

Larry, when did this mine start production?

[@larrydawes6673]

@@pacemetalfab production started around 2008

[@spiceyfrenchtoast9421]

@@larrydawes6673 dam it looked so new

[@larrydawes6673]

@@spiceyfrenchtoast9421 Yes that isn't considered old when it comes.es to mine sites. There were more diamonds there but they could get a deal with the Natives.

[@karsynanders8224]

i guess I'm kind of randomly asking but do anyone know a good place to stream newly released tv shows online?

[@c31979839]

Wow, very impressive! Love the behind the scenes look at something most people would never get to see.

[@Ronnocbot]

That facility looks very new and modern

[@blowinkk9396]

I think it was less then 10 years old. Welcome to Canada where we waste money on nothing

[@MrInstalator]

@@blowinkk9396 600 km to Thunder Bay..did they use the metal for scrap?

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@MrInstalator That was the intent according to Priestly Demolition; to be hauled away over last winter, just past, on the ice roads.

[@HavelTheCock]

Was contracted out for this mine as a HD mechanic during its tear down. Unlucky enough to be contracted to Golder and lucky enough to work with the Sigfusson guys. They went above and beyond, outstanding crew. Wild experience.

[@chuckhenderson4765]

I worked there running the boilers for a while was a great place to work

[@tippo5341]

Impressive work PDI, cheers from Aus!!!!

[@craigb124]

I was at the site for 19 days, Atco structures built the main camp to house the miners that would work there. Sad to see it taken down in such a short time.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

The Atco Hotel and "entertainment" district, offices and cafeteria sections will most likely be dismantled by Atco and hauled away to other worksites that could use them.

[@paulkelly1702]

A year long demo job. I would like to see more in depth video of these facilities if permitted - diamonds ya know

[@andrewalexander9492]

Interesting to see this. I was the Captain on the Hercules whcih brought the equipment in (and also when it was demobilized last fall) I had been told that the scrap steel would be trucked out to tidewater over an ice road. Has that happened?

[@PriestlyDemolitionInc]

That's cool Andrew. We did move some of the steel this past winter. Still a work in progress.

[@doneckford1189]

What happened to all the scrap and other waste? Was the salvageable steel removed for recycling or is the entire thing being buried in the pit?

[@PriestlyDemolitionInc]

scrap was been sorted for future removal.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

All removal processes happen only during the winter, when the ice roads open up and the ground is frozen solid enough to handle the weight of the freight, so to speak. 🚛🚛🚛🚚 🚛🚛🚛🚛🚛 🚚🚚 🚛🚛🚛🚛🚛

[@brendanjohanson5958]

Good job guys love your vids

[@percival23]

I am in the construction industry. After watching some of their videos, I don't see Priestly Demolition as a typical demolition contractor. They are more like Deconstruction engineers. They are cautious but precise ...traits not very common for demolition contractors.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

No kidding. Its usually more like, "Blow out the walls💨, Place the explosives🧨, Detonate💥, Sweep the resulting mess in the hole🧹🕳, Cover over! Job Done😎👍." And no one would question it because all anyone would care about is "The Results", rather than what got them 'the results' they were looking for.🤨

[@DimensionMachine]

Hard to believe that all that amazing plant infrastructure was only in use for a decade. Goes to show just how flipping valuable diamonds are when you can have such special equiment and facilities for less than a decade in the middle of nowhere and still make money!

[@cmac9029]

Great work guys. What are the plans for that site??

[@snapon666]

what about the hole and is the scrap metal going to be trucked out to ? Sudbury ? Toronto?

[@andrewalexander9492]

At one point the plan was to truck the scrap metal out to Hudson Bay (Attawapiskat is the nearest tidewater community) over an ice road. (there are no all season roads to the mine) however, I've seen articles published recently that suggest that they may be seeking permission to dispose of it on site in a landfill.

[@donvoll2580]

@@andrewalexander9492 Good day from Kitchener-Waterloo Ont. So if they are taking it to landfill , why bother taking it down at all , Boy that must have been costly. Thanks

[@andrewalexander9492]

@@donvoll2580 If you simply walk away from it, then it spends the next hundred years or so shedding sheetmetal panels that blow around the countryside, slowly deteriorating until it eventually collapses. In the meantime it's a hazard to anyone who might venture there, not to mention an eyesore. I don't know if you've ever been to a mine that's just been abandoned but they're kind of a mess.

[@donvoll2580]

@@andrewalexander9492 Yes I watched Yukon Gold were there were old pcs. left behind. Thanks

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@andrewalexander9492 Said "Landfill" being the open Pit Mine that is conveniently still there, you mean? 🤨

[@leonnledoux8961]

Freaking awesome!

[@2005GLI]

It was in operation for only 10 years?

[@andrewalexander9492]

Modern mines generally have a planned life. Mining companies spend a lot of time prospecting and defining the extent and quantity of the mineral to be mined. Based on the prospecting resulted, they have a pretty good idea how much is there, how much can be economically extracted, and how long that will take. It's certainly possible for mines to exceed a planned life, because of various factors like, discovering more ore than the prospecting indicated, increases in the market value of the product, or changes in the technology whcih makes extraction less expensive, and allows economical extraction from more marginal ores. Diamonds are formed in Kimberlite Pipes, whcih are pretty distinct volcanic formations. Once you're done excavating the Kimberlite, you aren't going to be finding more diamonds.

[@jerrywarren2104]

Don’t get me wrong . I enjoy watching your channel and what you guys do

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

So, are there still some buildings standing? I noticed that equipment that was brought in, was disassembled for transport back out, in a large building after demo had been completed.

[@dougackerman4182]

Neat video

[@southernman8225]

Worked there from 11 2006 until 02 2008.

[@papabits5721]

Mines start to close on the day they open

[@mrdando]

Is the stuff from the demolition still on site or is it been taken away

[@thebadinfluencer7294]

Oh I'm sure it's still in a big heap . We are talking about a company that rapes the earth for worthless diamonds.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@thebadinfluencer7294 Well, if it is, that's why they had to fork over financial bonds and fiscal deposits to "Guarantee" remediation before they got production rights on the site. If they don't remediate properly and in a timely manner, they lose their deposits (worth millions) which will be then used to remediate the site anyway.... or so the story goes. Only time will tell.

[@thebadinfluencer7294]

How do you remediate the earth after being excavated and undermined . Lmao . But yeah that's awesome happy they clean up the structures when they are done .

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@thebadinfluencer7294 Its an open pit mine, not one that tunnels into the earth like gopher hole. And no one said that they'd fill it in anyway. More than likely, they'll dress over the tailings pile with top soil, plant local plant-life on it, and leave the pit to infill with more water until it forms a small, but very deep lake. The pit has already done so as it is once the pumps were turned off and local groundwater started to fill in the void left behind from the mining.

[@thebadinfluencer7294]

@@steadholderharrington9035 I watched the video and must have missed the open pit . Thanks .

[@Ralphgtx280]

what part of this was "must see" ?

[@paulbetka2966]

Hope we're gonna see a lot of the demolition ❗❗🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️. Lotta videos ❗❗❗

[@henkheemskerk4437]

What will happen after all is cleared off? Is there a new forest planting?

[@steadholderharrington9035]

For those that have never actually seen what the area around the mine actually looks like, there isn't any "forest" to be re-planted, its mostly sedge, muskeg, and stunted bushes (or severely underachieving trees if you want to call them that), but certainly no real forest. I know maps make most of Northern Canada look green, and that everyone equivocates the "green" for forests, but it's really not. In some parts, yes, there are actual forests, but as you get over the Canadian Shield, forests give way to plants that can survive living atop massive expanses of stone.

[@pas42hfd]

So what are they going to do with all the construction debris??

[@steadholderharrington9035]

Haul it out during the winter freeze-up.

[@gtbproductions1]

So what is going to happen to all that debre all over the ground?

[@wilmercanton6145]

Sold for scrap most likely

[@manitobamania8563]

Let the wind look after it 🤫😂😂😂

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@manitobamania8563 As jokes go, that one Blows💨. 😂😂

[@assassinlexx1993]

This is the prefect place to put a prison. You escape. Only to be eaten by wolfs , bears or worst millions of black flies mosquitos. Winter is simple you freeze to death then get eaten. If you are a trouble maker they just put in a cell with no bug screens.

[@danvetor1365]

Will it look like they were never there when the project is finally finished? I still saw some buildings, tanks,etc.

[@andrewalexander9492]

Preistly had the contract to demolish the mine workings buildings. That's just one portion of the remediation. Many of the living quarters buildings and such are still standing. However the closure is far from complete at this point. I had heard speculation that some buildings might be left standing for some purpose, but I don't know for a fact that they will.

[@danvetor1365]

Andrew Alexander Thanks. That would be interesting to follow. I suppose the mine may become a lake.

[@andrewalexander9492]

@@danvetor1365 Well, it's already a lake of sorts. the pit filled up as soon as they turned off the pumps. The water level last November was a ways below the rim of the pit. No idea where it will reach equilibrium, but I suspect that it will always have steep rocky "shoreline".

[@andrewalexander9492]

@@danvetor1365 Also, looking at some pictures, it looks like most, if not all of the living quarters and such are constructed out of prefabricated modular units, so it may be the plan to truck the units out over the ice road.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

The actual remediation will take some years as the only time they can realistically work is in the late spring, all of summer, and a bit of the fall (5 to 6 months in all) before the freeze sets in again. The winter will be used primarily for maintenance work and trucking materials/building modules out and whatever food and fuel stuffs are needed for the next year phase of the remediation process in, over the ice roads. The fuel tank farm, one wing of the worker accommodations, the cafeteria and entertainment facilities, and a few maintenance sheds will be the last things to be removed after everything else is taken out and the land remediated. What was left over after Priestly Demolition was finished will be hauled out during the winter, and the rest of the constructs and containers will be loaded onto flatbeds or container chassis' by crane or forklift and likewise taken away until only a dirt road and a "new" lake will mark the passage of the former diamond mine.🌲🌲🌲🎄🌲🌲

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

2:12 what language is that on the sign, below English?

[@andrewalexander9492]

Cree, the local Indian language.

[@jerrywarren2104]

That is not Canada’s only open pit diamond mine . There is a world west of Ontario if you didn’t know. There are three open pit mines in the north west territories that operate in very harsh conditions

[@PriestlyDemolitionInc]

My apologies, I misunderstood. You are correct - This is Ontario's only open pit mine.

[@jerrywarren2104]

@@PriestlyDemolitionInc That’s ok I just had to let people in the east that there was life outside of Ontario. Lol

[@righteousred723]

@@jerrywarren2104 Ontario isnt in "the east", ironic how your ignorance is showing through your superiority

[@andrewalexander9492]

@@righteousred723 I don't know about that, if you draw a line midway between the Easternmost point of Canada (St John's Newfoundland) and the Westernmost point (Alaska border) All of Ontario is East of that line.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@righteousred723 Considering how Ontario considers itself the "Only" province west of the rest of the country in the east (Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island), it's not so surprising you think that way. As for the rest of us, WEST of you, we don't even exist, do we? Except as some sort of abstract tax-base and source of transfer-payments for appeasing Quebec and your own fellow Ontarioans money woes, that is. 😒

[@richardbearden7889]

Why..did the diamonds stop growing in that area?

[@dan__________________]

They dug out all of the roots from the diamond trees.

[@ferrallderrall6588]

They likely had an idea that it would play out in 10year,had no problem getting that deal lol.or only 1 money pit,probably why diavik got a 25 year couse they know when it will likely play out

[@gordbaker896]

The mythical Global Warming Terror

[@steadholderharrington9035]

Diamonds don't just "grow" in any given area. They are brought up from the upper mantle of the earth's crust where they've been forming under immense but specific heat and pressure over time through volcanic flues or vents that have long since gone extinct. Its how they find diamonds in the first place, by looking for Kimberlite deposits near or on top of suspected ancient volcanoes.

[@imchris5000]

debeers eliminating competition no surprise

[@charliechristianson]

this is only part of the story, where is the rest

[@steadholderharrington9035]

Still in the process of being written, I would say.

[@wcresponder]

How much of the stuff was donated to first nations? Was any? Just asking . As it would have helped with their continuous complaints of needed new housing.

[@righteousred723]

They are free to build their own houses y'know...

[@gordbaker896]

There would be nothing but complaints and need for more money. Many of them worked there.

[@maxwalker1159]

Based

[@righteousred723]

And dare I say

[@2bracing794]

Maybe first not only haha

[@medicja]

Company’s have been using the herk for many many years flying very large equipment in the north and all over that is not new .

[@andrewalexander9492]

It's the first time Preistly has flown their demolition equipment into a remote location with a Herc.

[@eprofessio]

Why not just leave it instead of destroying it and piling up all the sh_t in a landfill.

[@andrewalexander9492]

Because abandoned buildings with no maintenance eventually become a hazard, not to mention an eyesore. Fortunately the days of just walking away from a mine and leaving it for someone else to deal with are over.

[@MrInstalator]

Why this waste of money?

[@andrewalexander9492]

What are you referring to? Once it's no longer economical to mine diamonds, a remote facility like that has no value. You either abandon it, and leave a decaying mess, (Historically this is what happened to a lot of mines) or you demolish it and clean it up to some extent.

[@ferrallderrall6588]

No investors are going to release to many #'s but they invested in s remote mine and likely made a ton o buks,the demo would have been a condition of getting permitted to undergo the job in the 1st place, that's mining flash in the plan lol

[@andrewalexander9492]

@@ferrallderrall6588 True, I think any mining operation in any developed country is required to have a plan for remediation at the end of the life of the mine, plus posting of bonds to ensure that there is money for remediation, should the mining company go bankrupt.

[@gfpd2722]

All this for a useless rock.

[@davidfoss4836]

These structure should have been used to permanently house refugees and immigrants. The remoteness would have protected them from becoming degraded by Canadian culture.

[@righteousred723]

Too late, canadian culture is dead

[@assassinlexx1993]

Have ever lived in the north? It is not something fun. Summer time the bugs will eat you alive. In the winter you freeze your ass off. Remember food and everything else has to be trucked in 500 miles.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@righteousred723 What culture? Canada hasn't been around long enough to have developed a "culture". And what little we've tried to actually build is being frittered away to appease foreign interests. 😠

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Or, it’d be a nice place for old white Canadian conservatives to spend their golden years, far away from all the scary people that don’t look like them.

[@steadholderharrington9035]

@@canadiangemstones7636 If only, I F O N L Y Y Y Y Y . . . . . . . 🙄