Photo: Agnico-Eagle, Nunavut sign education deal

Yvon Sylvestre, Agnico-Eagle’s senior vice-president of operations, and Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak prepare to sign a memorandum-of-understanding April 18 at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit. The deal will see Agnico-Eagle and the GN’s department of education work on two programs to encourage students in Kivalliq schools to consider careers in the mining industry: a “Mining Matters” science course which will start in Grade 3 and a work-shadowing program in trades for high school students at Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake and the company’s Rankin Inlet Meliadine gold mine project. Agnico-Eagle will contribute $400,000 a year over three years towards the new in-school programs, which will start next September in Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet and another Kivalliq community. “I am thrilled about our partnership with Agnico-Eagle and look forward to our continued co-operation and success,” Aariak said. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)