Some Nunavik residents worried about Mary River

Big room, few people: the Nunavut Impact Review Board holds a consultation on the Mary River iron mine project before a small audience at Kangiqsujuaq’s Qaqqiq community centre. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

SARAH ROGERS
Special to Nunatsiaq News

KANGIQSUJUAQ— Nunavimmiut in Ivujivik, Salluit, Akulivik, Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Kangisujuaq and Quaqtaq had a chance to say what they think about Nunavut’s Mary River iron mine project this past week.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board held public consultations in Nunavik following a recommendation from Makivik Corp. that said the project’s plans to ship out ore year-round could have potential ecological and social impacts along the Hudson Strait.

The review board is conducting a review of the Mary River project, owned by Baffinland Iron Mines Corp..

The company wants to construct and operate a huge open pit iron mine between Pond Inlet and Igloolik.

A fleet of $200-million, 185,000-tonne tankers would ship 18 million tonnes of ore, year-round, to European markets for a minimum of 25 years.

“There’s a lot of concern over the potential environmental impact this project can have, particularly on our marine mammals,” said Aatasi Pilurtuut, who works with the Nunaturlik Landholding Corp. in Kangiqsujuaq.

“There will be a need to always monitor the waste [diesel and gas] that can be left behind by shipping. Anything that gets contaminated has an impact on birds and animals.”

A warming climate means there would more icebergs along the Strait, said Aloupa Kulula, who also attended the meeting in Kangiqsujuaq.

These icebergs could potentially lead to more collisions.

“My first concern is this shipping route and that it plans to go all year round,” Kulula said. “We already have a mining company that is shipping all year round to Deception Bay.”

But the difference with the Raglan mine, which is owned by Xstrata, is that local hunters worked out an agreement on shipping from Deception Bay that limits the activity period, he said.

This means the company doesn’t ship any nickel concentrate between March and May, which is the seal-pupping season in the area.

“It’s an important harvest for our people and the Foxe Basin people,” Kulula said. “And I would encourage this project consider respecting the same period.”

As for the lukewarm interest in Baffinland’s plans, Kulula said he was disappointed in Kangiqsujuaq’s small turnout.

Only Kulula and Pirlutuut showed up on Sept. 19 in Kangiqsujuaq to the review board’s presentation at the Qaqqiq community centre.

However, the meeting was not widely publicized and the community’s FM radio was closed Saturday, he said.

Few attended the review board presentation in Akulivik, which was held Sept. 16, on a Wednesday evening when many attend church services.

Ten to 25 participants attended the other Nunavik information sessions.

Disruption to the winter habitat of marine wildlife was the most common concern about the Mary River project that the NIRB heard in Nunavik, said Li Wan, the board’s technical advisor.

These will certainly be considered in the board’s overall review, Wan said.

Baffinland will be obliged to provide information about how it will deal with certain environmental scenarios, such as the collision of a ship with an iceberg, Wan added.

Baffinland would be the first to use Hudson Strait as a winter shipping route, he said.

The review board is working to finalize guidelines for the preparation of an environmental impact statement for the Mary River project, Ryan Barry, NIRB’s director of technical services, said in an email communication.

The NIRB plans to issue these guidelines to Baffinland in early November, Barry said.

Baffinland will use these guidelines to create a comprehensive environmental impact statement, which will contain the results of all its environmental studies, and address all of the concerns raised within the review board’s public consultation, he said.

This EIS will serve as the basis for the review board’s public review of the project, which still has “many stages left to complete before any decision on whether the project can proceed is made,” Barry said.

At the end of the review, after the submission of an EIS, two rounds of technical reviews, revisions to the EIS, and public hearings, the NIRB will then issue a final report to the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, with recommendations.

Nunavik residents can direct questions and comments about the Mary River project to the NIRB by calling 1-866-233-3033 or sending an email to info@nirb.ca.