Nunavut org to hold iron mine meeting in Pond Inlet

Baffinland Iron Mines port at Milne Inlet. The Nunavut Impact Review Board will be holding a public meeting June 2 at Atakaalik Hall to discuss on-going monitoring of the port, the tote road and the Mary River mine site itself, about 160 kms southwest of Pond Inlet. (PHOTO COURTESY BAFFINLAND IRON MINES)

If you’re interested in the on-going monitoring of the Mary River iron mine, the tote road and the new storage and docking facility at Milne Inlet, be sure to attend an upcoming meeting in Pond Inlet.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board, which is in charge of monitoring on-going operations at the Baffinland Iron Mine Corp.’s facilities, is holding a community information session in Pond Inlet on June 2.

Doors to Atakaalik Hall will open at 8 p.m. and simultaneous interpretation will be provided, says a NIRB poster circulated for the event.

NIRB staff will be in the area anyway for a regular planned visit to the mine and decided it was a good opportunity to meet with the community, answer questions and explain how members of the public can be involved in the monitoring process.

The Mary River mine, which is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Pond Inlet, boasts one of the highest grade sources of iron ore known in the world.

But the company has dealt with some bad news lately.

The Nunavut Planning Commission recently turned down a request from Baffinland to expand its open water shipping season by breaking ice in spring and fall and shipping more ore out of Milne Inlet across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

But the NPC said that request did not conform to the North Baffin Regional Land Use Plan because of its impact on ice and potential impacts on local harvesting and travelling over ice.

And the price of iron ore continues to plummet — it’s been in steady decline over the past year.

According to a website that tracks global commodity prices, the price per dry metric ton of iron ore went from just over $80 US in October 2014 to less than $54 US in March 2015.