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BAFFIN ISLAND
Travelling from Iqaluit to Cape Dorset, to Kimmirut, to Hall Beach, and across north Baffin Island, it has been a whirlwind of community meetings for executives of ArcelorMittal's Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., since submitting the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for its $4 billion Mary River iron mine, rail line and port project.

Baffinland's northern affairs manager, Joe Tigullaraq, and vice president, sustainable development health, safety and environment, Erik Madsen, speak at a community meeting in Hall Beach, 2012. - photo courtesy of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.

The end of the environmental assessment is now in sight, as dates have been set for the final hearings, in Iqaluit July 16 through 20; Iglulik, July 23 through 25; and Pond Inlet, July 26 through 28.

Since submitting the final EIS to the Nunavut Impact Review Board on Feb. 29, Baffinland has been visiting with hamlet councils, hunters and trappers organizations, and youth and elders, keeping the communities well-informed, said Greg Missal, vice president, corporate affairs.

"That was part of our commitment when we completed the final EIS and submitted it, that we would visit the communities to distribute information to the communities, so that they would have the best chance possible to understand what we're doing," Missal told News/North. "The next step for us is getting to those hearings and having the co-operation and the work that's been done by all the reviewers and the company come together and feeding into the final review process and having a really good project certificate."

The final hearings are a big step, said Ryan Barry, executive director of the review board.

"The final hearings represent sort of the culmination of our review, so that at the end of the final hearing, the record is officially closed," Barry said. "The board will deliberate and issue its final hearing report."

By next week, the board is expected to release a list of key issues that need to be addressed in the final hearing, which may include Baffinland's shipping plans, its emergency response plans; the protection of archeological sites; and Baffinland's plans for transporting and overwintering of fuel vessels.

The review board has raised concern with overwintering of fuel vessels, earlier this year denying Baffinland's request to overwinter a 10-million-litre fuel barge at Steensby Inlet.

This prompted Baffinland to scale back its 2012 Mary River work plan, but because Baffinland, a private company, does not disclose its program expenditures, its not known how much the proponent is spending on exploration at the site this year.

The review board plans to release its report on the project within 45 days of the final hearing, leaving final approval of the Mary River project, in the hands of the ministers responsible.

Led by the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the responsible ministers include the ministers of Transport Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Environment Canada.

"As long as they don't send it back for some unexpected reason, that should conclude the environmental assessment," Barry said.

Baffinland aims to have its project certification and the necessary licences and permits in place to begin construction in 2013.

In addition to Baffinland's plans to protect the environment, attendants at the company's community information sessions have been interested in hearing about the training, employment, and business opportunities the mine can bring, Missal said.

During the construction effort, the project is expected to require about 2,000 people on site at a time, and during operations, in the neighbourhood of 400 to 500 people on site at any given time.

Toronto-based Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., is 70-per-cent owned by ArcelorMittal and 30-per-cent owned by Iron Ore Holdings LP.

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