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MELIADINE
Kono Tattuinee has spent his first summer of camp life working at Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.'s Meliadine gold project site, and is now tasked with helping minimize its environmental impact.

Kono Tattuinee sits in the cafeteria at Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.'s Meliadine gold site earlier this month. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

"We do wildlife inspections, make sure that if there is any wildlife that we report (it)," said Tattuinee. "If there's any spills, that's part of our responsibility to help clean up the spills if there's any. It's sort of a new position, too."

He's been working at the site since June, mostly doing water sampling, but just started earlier this month with environmental monitoring, and he's on the two-weeks-in, two-weeks-out rotation.

He's enjoying camp life and thinks the Meliadine gold project is a good opportunity for him, and a good one for the region. He hopes to stay at the company if the project becomes a mine, which may happen around 2017 with an estimated mine life of 10 to 15 years.

The project is opening up more jobs, but Tattuinee didn't see a real shortage of jobs before Agnico-Eagle moved in.

"If you have a good education, you have a good job - there's government services in Rankin, there's private industry. If you're motivated to work, there's work to be found. There's a lot more than anywhere else in the region, other than Baker Lake."

Agnico-Eagle is currently operating the Meadowbank Gold Mine, about 70 km away from Baker Lake.

The importance of Tattuinee's division came into play earlier this season, when 5,000 to 10,000 caribou wandered by the site, which Tattuinee said is a rarity. The company did the right thing in that instance, he said.

"We shut down operation for about a day and a half (to let them pass)," he said. "They don't always come through here. They usually come through the North side. Over time, migrations have rerouted over the years. It's never really been that close to Rankin. Only once in a while, every seven years or every 10 years or something like that."

He said it must have been a new experience for the workers from Canada and beyond to see the herd of ungulates move past.

Tattuinee said he's looking forward to working in this new position for the company.

"If I do a good job, I'm sure they will be good to me. I don't expect anything other than that."

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