Gordon McCreary quits top job at Baffinland

Gordon McCreary, who resigned March 18 as president and CEO of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., at the Mary River site in 2008. (FILE PHOTO)

Gordon McCreary, the man who was the driving force behind the Mary River iron project, one of the most promising mining projects in Nunavut, resigned March 18 as president and CEO of the Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.

A Baffinland press release says McCreary will continue to serve as a director of the company, but has resigned all executive positions.

Richard McCloskey, the chairman of Baffinland, will look after the company’s day-to-day to executive responsibilities until its board of directors finds a new full-time CEO in an executive search, the press release said.

“The board of directors and I have agreed that this is an appropriate time for me to step down as President and CEO of the company… I endeavour to ensure a smooth passage to the next chapter of the Baffinland story,” McCreary is quoted as saying in the press release.

McCreary developed a keen interest in the huge iron ore deposit at Mary River in the late 1970s, when he wrote a master’s thesis on the feasibility of developing the resource.

“I have had a dream for over 30 years that one day the conditions would be right for the development of the world class deposits that make up our Mary River project. I truly believe that this is the time,” McCreary said April 2008, in a speech given at the Nunavut mining symposium in Iqaluit.