RANKIN INLET - As if dealing with $100,000 worth of diesel fuel problems at Nipissar Lake weren't enough for the hamlet of Rankin Inlet this past week, a faulty gasket caused an M&T Enterprises refuelling truck to spill 2,500 litres of jet fuel in the community.

Community and Government Services assistant deputy minister Shawn Maley was kept busy all week due to the spills.

He said the jet fuel spilled when a rubber gasket came out of a fitting and jammed the actuator valve on the truck.

The fuel spilled over an area about 300 m in length, from the four-way intersection in front of the RCMP building to the area at Williamson Lake in front of the Kissarvik Co-op's Inns North Hotel.

"After the valve jammed, the fuel was being released through about a four-inch opening with nobody in control," said Maley.

"M&T and the hamlet responded to the situation very quickly to clean it all up.

"They put down a bunch of absorbent where the fuel was visible, and excavated as much gravel as they could see had been contaminated and replaced it with fresh gravel.

"Financially, it's M&T's problem and will probably become an insurance issue, but all things considered, you're looking at a cost of somewhere in the neighbourhood of $30,000."

Maley said the same expert brought into town to examine the Nipissar Lake spill will also examine the area where the jet fuel was let go.

He said his department will then be advised as to the seriousness of the spill and any further action that needs to be taken.

"It's a heavy traffic area, so unfortunately, the stuff is being tracked all over the place.

"It also happened in an area that's a downward slope towards the Siniktarvik Hotel, so there will probably be some issues there.

"It's never good to spill any amount, but 2,500 litres is certainly manageable.

"We're being cautious, but, at this point, we're not overly concerned about the spill."

M&T chief financial officer Craig Collier said the company feels bad about the unfortunate mishap, but there's no way of anticipating something like this.

He said the spill was taken care of very quickly, and he's heard nothing but positive remarks from the community on how well M&T and hamlet crews handled the matter.

"This type of mishap is extremely rare," said Collier.

"This past October Transport Canada came in and did an inspection on the vehicle, which met all their specifications.

"We have yearly inspections done on the vehicle and Transport Canada does a very comprehensive inspection once every five years.

"That's the one that took place this past October and everything was fine."