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BAFFIN ISLAND
Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. is hoping more information about the company's planned Mary River project port site at Steensby Inlet, will end calls for the company to choose an alternative location for the port.

Pictured above, a sealift arrives at the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation Mary River project at Milne Inlet. The inlet was considered by Baffinland as a port location but the company says Steensby Inlet is the only feasible port site because of more difficult ice conditions towards Milne. - photo courtesy of Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation

After months of public review of the company's draft environmental impact study for the direct-ship iron ore project, on Aug. 12 the Qikiqtani Inuit Association issued a news release announcing its opposition to the proposed construction of a deep sea port site at Steensby.

"Steensby Inlet, where Baffinland wants to build its port, is considered too precious by Inuit for development to happen there," QIA president Okalik Eegeesiak said. "An alternative location for a port site is in the best interest of Inuit and the company."

Mayors from various communities, including Hall Beach, Igloolik and Pond Inlet, also wrote a joint-letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board expressing their disapproval of the proposed port site, according to QIA.

"We consider this to be part of the environmental impact study process," Baffinland vice-president of corporate affairs Greg Missal said, anticipating more comments from reviewers of the draft study to come. "I think the input of the QIA and the communities is always important in these processes.

"We need to continue working with groups like the QIA and the community and help them understand all the things we considered in terms of choosing the Steensby site and try to get this resolved."

The Steensby port has been an important part of Baffinland's plans for upwards of five years, Missal said, and the company determined the inlet is the most feasible location for the iron ore shipping port site while preparing the draft impact study. Baffinland considered alternative routes for the project, including Milne Inlet, which they determined because of more difficult ice conditions further north at the inlet, would not allow for all-year operation.

"We need to have a 12-month shipping project and that's what we're focused on," Missal said.

The QIA says members of Mary River project committees in the community generally support the project but need more detailed information than what has been provided by Baffinland so far.

Technical meetings about the project's environmental impact are expected to begin in the fall, when the company is expected to have received comments from other reviewers of the draft study, including Nunnavut Tunngavik Inc. and the review board.

Baffinland is a private company, 70 per cent owned by steel producer ArcelorMittal and 30 per cent by Iron Ore Holding LP.

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