During the recent KHNS program focused on Lutak Dock, mining promoter Richard Clement quoted an engineer who said in 2017 that a multi-purpose dock cannot be used to ship ore. It’s now 2024, and this is no longer true.
As anyone familiar with the infamous March 24, 2022, Ports and Harbors Committee meeting might recall, Kels Boland and other Yukon mining interests let Haines know what they would need to utilize the Lutak Dock to ship Yukon ore. They said they could truck ore concentrates in specialized containers down the Haines Highway and dump them into Handymax ore ships using a mobile harbor crane. ‘Rotainers’ are semi-truck trailers carrying ore concentrate that are inverted over the ship’s hold and emptied — with Lutak Inlet’s famous winds ready to carry toxic fugitive dust far and wide. Turnagain’s ‘encapsulation’ design is almost exactly what the miners requested– a long dock face with multiple loading points and a deeper draft to accommodate Handymax ships.
Here is a link where you can check out highlights from that Ports and Harbors meeting: https://www.lynncanalconservation.org/no-ore-port.
Here is a link showing rotainers dumped by mobile harbor crane into ore ship holds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVxbRgZ3pRY
Eric Holle