Review board grants Baffinland’s request to extend its production limit

The Nunavut Impact Review Board has granted Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s request to temporarily extend its production limit at the Mary River mine.

In a March 5 news release, Kaviq Kaluraq, the chair of the NIRB, said the mining company’s request to extend its production limit from four to six million tonnes of iron ore is granted until Dec. 31, 2021.

Baffinland had requested only a one-year extension, until the end of 2020, in its letter to the NIRB, dated Dec. 19, 2019.

But in its release, NIRB said a one-year extension “would have the effect of imposing undue limits on the timelines and manner in which the board’s assessment of the phase two development proposal proceeds.”

“In extending the amendments to terms and conditions 179(a) and 179(b) until December 31, 2021, the board is confident that there will be adequate time to complete a thorough assessment and decision-making for the phase two development proposal and that Baffinland and subsequent regulators will have sufficient time to address the board’s and ministers’ associated decisions and recommendations,” the release said.

This follows a production cap increase granted in 2018, up from the 4.2-million-tonne cap set in the project certificate amendment that allowed trucked shipping to Milne Inlet under the company’s “early revenue phase.” That two-year production cap expired on Dec. 31, 2019.

In its phase two proposal, Baffinland proposes increasing Mary River’s production from six million to 12 million tonnes of ore per year. The expanded mine would be served by a 110-kilometre railway from Mary River to Milne Inlet and up to 176 ship voyages each season.

The release also said the decision to approve the extension request is intended to “limit further employee demobilization” at the mine.

Last fall, after a public hearing on the phase two expansion of Baffinland’s Mary River mine was suddenly adjourned, 48 Inuit contractors lost their jobs at Mary River.

“The board’s decision to approve the extension request is intended to limit further employee demobilization and the adverse socio-economic impacts associated with the return to the original transportation and shipping limitations,” the release states.

“The board also considered Baffinland’s recent commitments to affected communities to prioritize Inuit employment and to prevent further layoffs of Inuit employees.”

The mayors of Arctic Bay, Clyde River, Hall Beach, Igloolik and Pond Inlet have jointly supported the production limit extension, “if no more layoffs to members of our communities occur, and members who have been laid off are re-instated and accommodated within the current project.”

“The board is of the view that the potential impacts of the activities associated with the extension request can be managed through the commitments provided by the proponent and the application of key mitigation and monitoring measures associated with the 2018 approval of the production increase proposal,” the release states.

“The board also considered Baffinland’s recent commitments to affected communities to prioritize Inuit employment and to prevent further layoffs of Inuit employees.”

A technical meeting on Baffinland’s phase two proposal for its Mary River mine site is set to begin in Iqaluit on March 16. A community roundtable on the proposal is also scheduled to begin in Iqaluit on March 23.