Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. has begun mining operations at its Nunavut-based Mary River iron ore mine, in the Canadian Arctic.
The ore mined will be transported up to Milne Inlet, where it will wait to be loaded onto ships during the open-water season of 2015.
“Due to the quality of the ore, no processing is required before shipping it to market, reducing overall impact to the environment and keeping production costs low,” the company said in a recent statement.
Baffinland President and CEO Tom Paddon said the event marks an important moment in the North.
The ambitious C$4 billion rail and port project, located in the Qikiqtani Region of Nunavut, almost 500 kilometers (310 miles) inside the Arctic circle, was expected to ship 18 million metric tons of iron ore annually. In 2012, however, Baffinland – owned 50 percent by ArcelorMittal and 50 percent by Nunavut Iron Ore – decided to scale-down the operation, as the mining downturn and lower iron ore prices made the full project difficult to finance. “After more than 50 years of talk about developing Mary River, Baffinland has succeeded, “Paddon said, adding that operations will go on nonstop throughout the year.
The Mary River operation, one of the world’s richest and largest iron ore deposits, contains roughly 365 million metric tons of high-grade ore that can be shipped directly without requiring processing that produces tailings.
Mary River’s life of the mine is expected to exceed 20 years for the first deposit.
