Agnico-Eagle Mines aims to increase Inuit workforce

This graph from a presentation made to the Kivalliq Trade Show shows where Inuit employment stands at Agnico-Eagle Mining in Nunavut, which employs about 650 workers at its Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake.

With a 38-per-cent Inuit workforce in Nunavut, Agnico-Eagle Mine Ltd.’s level of Inuit employment remains about double that of the Eastern Arctic’s only other operating mine, Xstrata’s Raglan nickel mine in Nunavik.

Last July, 289 Inuit, out of a total workforce of about 650, worked for Agnico-Eagle — nearly all of them at its Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake, Nunavut’s first operating mine.

That figure of 289 was up from December, 2010, when 149 Inuit worked there — so the mining company must be doing something right in its efforts to attract and keep Inuit workers.

But Agnico-Eagle wants to do even better, said Graeme Dargo, the company’s senior co-ordinator for economic development, during his Nov. 9 presentation to delegates at Rankin Inlet’s Kivalliq Trade Show.

“Agnico-Eagle builds gold mines,” Dargo said. “We also need to find ways to build people’s capacity to operate our Nunavut mines.”

By 2015, Meadowbank and Agnico-Eagle’s proposed Meliadine gold mine near Rankin Inlet could bring 1,350 jobs to the Kivalliq region — 650 at Meadowbank and 700 at Meliadine, Dargo said.

To see Inuit enter more skilled jobs at these two mines remains the challenge, he said.

The majority of Inuit now fill entry-level and semi-skilled jobs.

Although Agnico-Eagle operates its own training program, there are very few Inuit tradespersons, and only four Inuit apprentices with the company, Dargo noted.

The problems include a lack of interest on the part of youth to pursue a trade or profession with the mining industry, low high school graduation rates and the inability of many Grade 12 graduates to pass a trades entrance exam, he said.

To improve this situation, Agnico-Eagle has started a “Building People Initiatives” program — “a plan to develop the capacities of the people needed to operate our mines in Nunavut.”

“Our priority, a partnership with the [Nunavut] Department of Education and Kivalliq schools,” Dargo said.

Agnico-Eagle wants to develop a partnership agreement on education which will involve Kivalliq schools and put a “Mining Matters” program into schools, science camps and science fairs.

The company also wants to develop a “co-op” pre-trades program, which would combine trades and professional studies at the high schools with on-the-job practical experience at the mine site.

The plan also includes setting up on-site adult literacy and numeracy programs and an apprenticeship program, with built-in classroom support.

These measures could also see the number of young workers at Agnico-Eagle’s Nunavut operations increase — as it stands now 23 per cent of its workforce in Nunavut is under 30 years, 64 per cent are between the ages of 30 and 50, and 13 per cent are over 50.

Agnico-Eagle also invested in a $500,000 haul truck simulator. It’s trained 60 workers, including 16 workers in entry-level positions.

While Agnico-Eagle wants to improve its Inuit employment numbers and the kinds of jobs Inuit hold, its Meadowbank mine has already had a major effect on the Nunavut’s economy, raising its real gross domestic product.

It has also fed lots of money into the Kivalliq region’s economy through jobs and contracts with local suppliers, Dargo pointed out.

Agnico-Eagle workers from Nunavut earn an annual average salary of $66,000.

The annual payroll puts about $19 million into the economy — and the increase in locally-available jobs has been accompanied by a decrease in income support which has dropped by 20 per cent since 2010.

Local businesses have also reaped huge benefits from Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank operations.

Meadowbank spends about $200 million a year in Nunavut.

Of the $118 million that Agnico-Eagle spent at Meadowbank during the first nine months of the year, $61 million went to Nunavut-based suppliers, with $23 million going to Baker Lake companies.

A second operating gold mine at Meliadine could mean an additional $200 million a year coming into the territory.

The Meliadine gold mine project is already driving more economic growth, Dargo said.

The value of Meliadine contracts from January to the end of August added up to $30 million for Nunavut-based companies, mainly from Rankin Inlet, he said.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. acquired Meliadine, located about 25 kilometres north of Rankin Inlet, from Comaplex Minerals Corp. in July 2010 and hopes to turn its property into a producing gold mine by 2015.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board will hold public scoping meetings on the Meliadine project next week in Rankin Inlet on Nov. 13, 14, and 15, in Chesterfield Inlet on Nov. 16 and 17, and in Whale Cove on Nov. 18 and 19.

Meetings in Arviat take place Nov. 21 and 22, in Repulse Bay on Nov. 23 and 24, in Coral Harbour on Nov. 25 and 26 and in Baker Lake on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29.

You can see how much money the Meadowbank gold mine in Baker Lake feeds into the Nunavut economy in this figure from a presentation made by Agnico-Eagle Mining at the recent Kivalliq Trade Show in Rankin Inlet.