Federal minister gives nod to Meliadine road

Agnico-Eagle says it will save up to $5 million a year using a road to ship fuel to its Meliadine site, compared to bringing fuel in by air. Transporting fuel by air, as seen in this 2011 photo, adds at least $1 per litre to Agnico Eagle’s fuel costs. (FILE PHOTO)

The final go-ahead for the new all-weather, 24-kilometre road that will link Agnico-Eagle Mining’s Meliadine gold mine project to Rankin Inlet came through this week.

In a letter received May 23 by the Nunavut Impact Review Board, John Duncan, the federal minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, said “regulatory agencies are now able to issue the required permits at their discretion.”

The NIRB approved Agnico-Eagle’s plan to build the road, which will bring workers, fuel, drilling supplies and food to the camp located about 13 km from Rankin Inlet, this past February.

The road will allow year-round exploration work to continue at the site of Agnico-Eagle’s future gold mine, another 11 km away.

Kivalliq Services Ltd., a consortium of Kivalliq businesses received the contract to build the all-weather road. KSL is a partnership between Nuna M&T Services Ltd., Peters Expediting Ltd., and Northern Networks Ltd.

Nuna M&T Services is a partnership between Vancouver-based Nuna Logistics and M&T Enterprises of Rankin Inlet, which is itself a partnership among three different companies.

Nuna Logistics is well-known for doing ice-road construction and other services for mining companies.

The all-weather access road, whose construction will cost about $21 million, will use three bridges, including one across the Meliadine River.

Crews will complete the bridge installation by late fall 2012, with the goal of finishing all road construction by April 2013.

Agnico-Eagle’s resource estimates for Meliadine show the project already contains twice as much gold as at its Meadowbank gold mine, which operates about 70 km north of Baker Lake.

The company expects production to start at Meliadine in 2017.