ARTICLE · 04 JANUARY 2023

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Federal Ministers Back Nunavut Impact Review Board In Refusing Baffinland Expansion

Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP

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Baffinland operates the Mary River Project under its 2012 approval which set a nominal production rate of 18 Million tons of iron ore per year.

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On November 16, 2022, by ministerial letter, the Honourable Dan Vandal, in his role as Minister of Northern Affairs, and on behalf of the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change, Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Natural Resources, and Transport, accepted the recommendation of the Nunavut Impact Review Board, denying Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation its approval for the Phase 2 expansion of the Mary River Mine.

Baffinland operates the Mary River Project under its 2012 approval which set a nominal production rate of 18 Million tons of iron ore per year. The Project includes a mine site and two ports, Milne Port and Steensby Port, a haul road, and a railroad. A 2014 modification was approved to allow extraction of up to an additional 4.2 Mtpa of iron ore for truck transport to Milne Port while additional infrastructure was being constructed.

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