The board issued its project certificate terms and conditions May 28, saying that based on its mandate under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, “the Mary River Project and Early Revenue Phase Proposal will enhance and protect the existing and future well-being of the residents and communities of the Nunavut Settlement Area.

Under the new project certificate, Baffinland must abide by 182 detailed terms and conditions including monitoring how climate change might impact the environment and infrastructure at the site and also how the project might mitigate its own climate change impacts through reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The original Mary River project proposal, which would have seen a railway built from the mine to Steensby Inlet and for year-round shipping of an estimated 18 million metric tons of ore annually, earned its own project certificate from the NIRB in December 2012.

But a month later, Baffinland slashed the scope of the project, opting instead for a scaled-down “early revenue phase” which would focus on shipping less ore annually out of Milne Inlet instead, and only during open water season.

Because the project would see more intense use of Milne Inlet, the Review Board opted to conduct a new set of consultations, which it completed over the past 18 months, culminating in the amended project certificate.

Baffinland must now procure all the necessary regulatory paperwork to proceed including water licenses, mineral leases and land use permits.

Construction at Mary River is expected to take two years, according to the board’s report, and operations are expected to continue for the duration of the 21-year projected life of the mine.

According to the report, Baffinland intends to build a 100-kilometer haul road to Milne Inlet, and a fixed dock, create a large ore stockpile and reclaim area, utilize 3,500-metric-ton-per-hour ship loaders, expand its camp to accommodate 60 workers and extend and relocate the airstrip to the west of the stockpile.

Lunch program established

Baffinland meanwhile, is sponsoring a lunch program at Nasivvik High School in Pond Inlet, the closest community to the company’s port site at Milne Inlet. In recognition of the important link between a healthy diet and education, the company made the decision to offer free lunches to students, beginning in March, who were going without food.

The pilot lunch program at the high school came about when senior management learned from the school’s principals, Rachel Binns and Meeka Qamaniq, that some of the youth were coming to school hungry and without lunches. Food insecurity is a big issue on Baffin Island and across the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

Baffinland officials said they wanted to make a difference in this community. “It is vitally important for students to eat a healthy diet if they are to do well at school. Nutritious lunches prepared at Inns North in Pond Inlet are delivered to the school in a brown bag and contain a hot soup made from scratch and a sandwich on fresh bread as well as an extra snack, such as carrot sticks or fruit, etc. to ensure the meal is balanced.

Other benefits flow out to the community from the lunch program. The chef who prepares the lunches and previously worked part-time now has a full-time position at Inns North, and the hotel is owned and supplied by the Pond Inlet Co-op, which provides additional benefits to the entire community.

The most important benefit though, said Baffinland, is that the students get enough to eat and that they eat good quality healthy food. “Everyone deserves to be fed, even if their families cannot afford it,” company officials observed.