Agnico Eagle confirms another COVID-19 case at Meliadine

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. reported another lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 at its Meliadine gold mine near Rankin Inlet, the company said Friday.

The employee had tested negative for the coronavirus before arriving at the work site on Dec. 24 and tested negative three and five days later, the company said.

But on Jan. 8, the employee began to display mild symptoms of COVID-19. The worker tested presumptively positive and was placed in isolation and evacuated from the site on a special charter flight

At the same time, on Jan. 8, 11 workers who were in contact with the infected employee were also evacuated from the site. All 11 had tested negative.

Those employees have been asked to follow the public health recommendations of their home provinces, and the company says they’ll retest them before they head back to the site.

Earlier this month, Agnico Eagle evacuated another employee who tested positive, along with 14 contacts.

All Nunavut employees at Meliadine were sent home last March. They continue to collect 75 per cent of their base salaries.

The mine is located about 25 kilometres from Rankin Inlet — the company says the risk of transmission to that community is very low.