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NUNAVUT
Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. will face some unimpressed reviewers of its Mary River project draft environmental impact statement this week.

A sealift arrives at the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation Mary River project at Milne Inlet. The draft environmental impact statement for the project is currently under technical review. - photo courtesy of Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation

Comments on the 5,000-page draft were received by the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) until Oct. 5, from several stakeholders including Environment Canada, the Government of Nunavut, and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, which began its technical review by stating that "it is flawed.

"QIA simply cannot accept, as set out in the (draft environmental impact statement), that there will be no negative impacts of any significance from a project of this magnitude either to the environment or Inuit."

The proposed 33-year, $4-to $6-billion project, would include the construction of a 149-km railway to link the mine site to a new port facility at Steensby Inlet, the upgrade of a road that would link the mine site to another new port facility at Milne Inlet, and the year-round shipping of iron ore from Steensby using ice breaking ore carriers.

Among the association's qualms with the draft is the baseline information provided, which it says is "limited at best or lacking at worst," particularly in relation to the marine environment, terrestrial wildlife and engineering aspects.

Baffinland vice-president of corporate affairs Greg Missal, who led Tahera Diamond Corp. through the establishment of the Jericho diamond mine -- the first mining project to go through the Nunavut Impact Review Board process, said the critiques are "just part of the process.

"That's the intent of the process," Missal said. "Everybody gets an opportunity to provide their input and that's the full intention of the technical meetings (this) week, to discuss the comments made."

The technical meetings this week take place Tuesday through Thursday in Iqaluit.

"We're going to work with these groups to understand where they're coming from and help them understand what we think we've provided and come to a common solution," Missal said.

Despite some harsh reviews, Missal said the company believes there is still great support for the project in the region.

"It's no secret that a lot of people in the Baffin Region are looking for jobs and looking for business opportunities and a project like this can provide that," he said.

The workforce during construction is estimated at 4,200 people in the region.

The association said in its technical review that Baffinland does recognize the importance of Inuit culture and harvesting in the draft, and "while Inuit accept the need for improving access to a wage and cash economy, the (draft environmental impact statement) does not fully appreciate the continuing relationship between harvesting and on-the-land activities with cultural identity."

The association said its review was struck after consultations with affected communities of Hall Beach, Igloolik, Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet, Clyde River, Cape Dorset, and Kimmirut, as well as hired experts in marine biology, fresh water biology, terrestrial biology, socio-economics, as well as civil and geotechnical engineering.

Concerns from all the commentators are to be answered in the final environmental impact statement for the Mary River project. Baffinland expects to submit the final environmental impact statement in early 2012.

"There's a lot of reviewers that are involved with the NIRB process and it's their job to provide comments and their views as they see them," Missal said. "And it's our job to work with them and develop a final (environmental impact statement)."

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