Teck Corporation - Polaris Operations Polaris Mine, Canada Polaris is an underground mine located on Little Cornwallis Island in the Canadian Arctic. Polaris is in the newly created Nunavut Territory which came into existence on April 1, 1999. The Polaris orebody is accessed by a decline.
Mining is by sub-level blasthole methods with remote control scooptrams.
Primary stopes are filled with frozen backfill to allow extraction of pillar ore. The permafrost is preserved by the operation of a freezing plant to cool ventilation air through the summer months. The bottom of the mine is 280 metres below sea level and over 25 km of tunneling has been completed. Crushed ore is conveyed from the mine to a conventional concentrator by a 2-km underground conveyor system. Shipments of concentrates are made to Europe during the limited Arctic shipping season from July through November.