No emergency order for Baffinland – Nunatsiaq News

Jun 1, 2022

Federal Northern Affairs Minister Daniel Vandal will not raise Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s iron ore shipping limit after the company said it would lay off hundreds of workers if he rejected its emergency order request.

Vandal did not grant the company’s request to ship six million tonnes of iron ore in 2022 in a letter he sent Wednesday to Baffinland chief executive officer Brian Penney, which Nunatsiaq News obtained.

“I recognize the sensitivity of Baffinland’s current request,” Vandal wrote in the two-page letter. “Given your history of operating at six million tonnes per annum, I wish it was one I could re-certify easily.”

Baffinland has been operating in 2022 on a permit that allows it to ship 4.2 million tonnes from its Mary River mine. The company has said it needs a higher limit or it will have to lay off more than 1,300 workers.