Located on Northern Baffin Island, the Mary River iron mine currently produces 4.5 million tonnes of ore each year for European markets. Ore is shipped via a haul road from the mine to a port in Eclipse Sound, near the community of Pond Inlet, pictured here, on the north shore of Baffin Island. Photo courtesy Baffin Fisheries.

Inuit hunters from a small community in Nunavut are demanding a reassessment of a proposed expansion to an iron ore mine.

Baffinland Iron Mines intends to build a port and railway to Steensby Inlet, near the Inuit community of Igloolik, as part of a plan to quadruple production at its Mary River Mine. The port and railway were originally approved by the Government of Canada in 2012. However, the environmental assessment this approval was based on is now badly outdated. The Igloolik Hunters and Trappers Association believes that, at minimum, the project should be re-assessed before permits are issued.

Located on Northern Baffin Island, the Mary River iron mine currently produces 4.5 million tonnes of ore each year for European markets. Ore is shipped via a haul road from the mine to a port in Eclipse Sound, near the community of Pond Inlet, on the north shore of Baffin Island.

Baffinland’s original proposal for the Mary River Mine included the port and railway at Steensby Inlet. However, soon after this proposal was approved in 2012, the company indicated that it lacked the capital to construct the port and railway. It submitted a revised proposal to ship much smaller quantities of ore through the Eclipse Sound port, with the aim of generating capital to one day build the Steensby port and rail. This scaled down version of the Mary River project, with shipping through Eclipse Sound, was approved in 2014. Now, over a decade later, the company wishes to expand production by proceeding with its original plan to ship ore through Steensby Inlet.

However, Inuit hunters are concerned that the environmental assessment of the Steensby Inlet port and rail is now badly outdated. In May, the Igloolik Hunters and Trappers Association and the Sanirajak Hunters and Trappers Association wrote a joint letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB), requesting a reassessment of the Steensby Inlet port and rail. The joint letter outlined the hunters’ concerns with the proposed mine expansion:

The letter noted particular concern with the effects of the proposed railway on Baffin Island’s caribou herds:

In a follow-up letter to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the Igloolik Hunters and........

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