Impact review board okays Nunavut mine pit expansion
Meadowbank’s Vault Pit expansion expected to produce 400,000 tonnes of ore

The Nunavut Impact Review Board hosted a consultation in Baker Lake in March on the proposed expansion of Meadowbank’s Vault Pit. From left, board members Marjorie Kaviq Kaluraq, Elizabeth Copland, Guy Alikut. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NIRB)
The Nunavut Impact Review Board has given a green light to the expansion of an open mine pit at Agnico Eagle Mine Ltd.’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake.
Agnico Eagle first proposed in July 2014 to expand its current Vault Pit operation southwest into nearby Phaser Lake to form Phaser Pit and BB Phaser Pit.
Vault Pit, located about eight kilometres northeast of Meadowbank’s main mine site, is one of three pits currently being mined on the Kivalliq site.
“After a thorough review of the potential eco-systemic and socio-economic impacts of the proposed project, the [NIRB] has concluded that the Vault Pit Expansion Project may proceed,” NIRB chair Elizabeth Copland said in an April 18 decision.
The NIRB decision is based on community consultations the board held in Baker Lake is early March, during which the board heard, “no outstanding technical issues or concerns with the proposed project amendments, provided that AEM followed the mitigation measures described within its original Final Environmental Impact Statement and within the Addendum.”
The NIRB’s hearing report and recommendation will now be forwarded to the federal minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, who will make the final decision on the expansion.
Vault Pit will require significant work, including the dewatering of Phaser Lake, an estimated volume of 700,000 cubic metres.
The “fishout,” when fish are taken out of the lake and transferred to another body of water, is expected to begin later this year, if the project gets the go-ahead.
Phaser Lake has a maximum depth of four to five metres and contains a population of trout and whitefish.
The company has already dewatered most of nearby Vault Lake under the terms of its existing project certificate and began mining there in January 2014.
Agnico Eagle hopes to extract just over 400,000 tonnes of ore from the expansion of the pit, in addition to the 29.8 million tonnes already approved for extraction from the Meadowbank site over its lifetime.
If all goes well, Agnico Eagle plans to begin mining the new pits in 2017.
Another deposit on Meadowbank’s site holds even more potential for Agnico Eagle, however; its Amaruq deposit, located about 50 kilometres from the mine’s main site, is estimated to hold at least 3.3 million ounces of gold, the company said this past February.
“The company expects to ultimately develop Amaruq as a satellite operation to Meadowbank, with the potential to begin production in 2019,” Agnico Eagle said in its latest financial report.
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