Meadowbank shrinks to 175 workers after March 10 fire

Agnico-Eagle plans to bring in temporary structures to replace the kitchen, cafeteria and adjoining offices, which burned down March 10. (PHOTO COURTESY OF AEM ON FACEBOOK)

One-hundred and seventy-five employees remain at Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake, following a fire in the early hours of March 10, which destroyed the camp’s kitchen and cafeteria and led to the evacuation of 300 workers.

The fire likely started below the kitchen, Denis Gourde, Agnico Eagle’s regional manager for Nunavut, said March 11.

And although the damages suffered during this fire were extensive, no estimate of the cost of the damages is available yet, he said.

Plans are already being made to bring in temporary facilities. However, the arrival of more permanent structures will have to wait for next year’s sealift, he said.

But Agnico-Eagle already has plans to progressively bring back all the employees who were flown out March 10, Gourde said.

“Our plan is to get all the employees back on site as soon as possible,” he said.

Workers who were evacuated as well as workers who could not fly in for their rotation will continue to be paid, he said.

Those workers now on site will keep the gold mine in production.