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Mary River Mine
The Mary River Mine is an open-pit iron ore mine in the Mary River area of Baffin Island, Canada. It is operated by the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation (BIMC). As of 2021, the operation consists of an open-pit mine, two work camps for hundreds of workers, a tote road—from the Mary River site to Milne Inlet—and port infrastructure at Milne Inlet. According to a 4-year study published in 2008, the Mary River Mine, with its four massive iron ore deposits of 65-70% pure iron ore was "one of the most promising undeveloped iron deposits on the planet". It was not until technological advances were in place in 2010, and the market for iron ore had dramatically increased that sizable financial backing was available for the high cost of development in a remote region known for its inhospitable climate. The mine began operations in 2014, and the first shipment to Europe arrived in 2015. Baffinland is currently planning on expanding the mine. In February 2021, a group of Inuit hunters blockaded access to the mine for a week to protest the expansion.
In May 2021, a work camp for the mine experienced a COVID-19 outbreak, including the first cases of the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in the territory.
The Mary River area has "long been known to Inuit as Nuluujaat, a landmark used to travel through North Baffin Island" in what is now known as Qikiqtani Region, Nunavut.
The Mary River property contains four iron ore deposits, numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 that contain high grade direct shipping iron ore (DSO), with ore grades between 65% and 70%. Because they require no further processing to be used in blast furnaces for steel-making they are priced higher than lower grades.[citation needed] The iron ore body was identified in 1962 by Murray Edmund Watts, who was the regional head of Baffinland predecessor company—British Ungava Explorations Ltd. (Brunex). Watts had sighted Mary River's four massive iron ore deposits—large black circles of 65-70% pure iron ore—from his Cessna airplane. Watts died in 1982, and had never been able to find investors for the project. In 1986, a private company, Baffinland Iron Mines Ltd., held the Mary River Project claims and leases.
In 1978, Gordon McCreary submitted his Queen's MBA thesis on the feasibility of developing iron ore in the Mary River area with a focus on transporting the iron ore in Arctic conditions to tidewater by permafrost land, and by sea through packed ice. Richard McCloskey, who became Baffinland's CEO in 2010, had been friends with McCreary in the engineering department at Queen's in 1969. In 2002, McCreary and McCloskey gained a controlling interest in Baffinland. They took it public in 2004, and established Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation. Baffinland then had the funds to complete testing and surveys, and they confirmed the purity of the ore at 65-70% pure and the potential of the resource—337 million tons. The Mary River Mine was "one of the largest undeveloped iron ore deposits in the world". By 2006, the price of iron ore increased as there was a global shortage for the first time since the 1970s. It was at this time that interest in developing iron ore mines in both the Labrador Trough, near Schefferville, Quebec and in Mary River had increased.
In or around the mid-2000s, BIMC presented a proposal to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA)—the regional Inuit organization authorized by the Nunavut government, that represents Inuit in the entire Baffin Island area—for the Mary River project. The proposal was for an open pit iron ore mine, to be developed and exploited on Inuit-owned land (IOL). The proposal, which was informed by the commissioned report, estimated a total cost of CA$4.1 B, and included a CA$1.2 B 149 km (93 mi) cold-weather railway running south—the South Railway—from the mine to a CA$0.7B deep-water all season facility in Steensby Inlet in southern Baffin with a planned production of 18 million tonnes per annum (MT/a). By September 2006, a QIA member vocally supported the development of the Mary River project, saying that, "You're talking about [jobs] for your grandchildren—and their grandchildren." By 2006, Baffinland began investigating the feasibility of a cold-weather railway from the Mary River to a mining port and by 2006, Canarail had provided an estimate of CA$350 million to build the railway. Baffinland had considered two options—a North Railway and a South Railway—a 105-kilometre (65 mi) route to Milne Inlet and a 143-kilometre (89 mi) route to Steensby Inlet.
As of 2009, Canada, with 7.9 billion tons of iron ore reserves, had nearly 42% of the global iron ore resources. The majority of the iron ore in Canada comes from Nunavut's Mary River Mine and from Schefferville, Quebec, which is in the Labrador Trough. In 2017 Canadian iron ore mines produced 49 million tons of iron ore in concentrate pellets and 13.6 million tons of crude steel. Of the 13.6 million tons of steel 7 million was exported, and 43.1 million tons of iron ore was exported at a value of $4.6 billion. Of the iron ore exported 38.5% of the volume was iron ore pellets with a value of $2.3 billion and 61.5% was iron ore concentrates with a value of $2.3 billion.
In 2011, the Government of Canada, under the direction of the Conservative majority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, fostered Arctic exploration and industrial mining as the "beacon of the future" that would "unlock development possibilities in the North." By 2013, "mineral exploration funds" had begun to "dry up" and new development was being scaled back across Northern Canada. In their 2013 book Northern Canada : history, politics, and memory, the authors said that Baffinland's "massive Mary River project was the most dramatic example—Baffinland "radically curtailed its investment and development plans, cancelling a proposed railway and port development...and scaling back its project investment to $740 million from an initial projection of $4 billion."
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Mary River Mine
The Mary River Mine is an open-pit iron ore mine in the Mary River area of Baffin Island, Canada. It is operated by the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation (BIMC). As of 2021, the operation consists of an open-pit mine, two work camps for hundreds of workers, a tote road—from the Mary River site to Milne Inlet—and port infrastructure at Milne Inlet. According to a 4-year study published in 2008, the Mary River Mine, with its four massive iron ore deposits of 65-70% pure iron ore was "one of the most promising undeveloped iron deposits on the planet". It was not until technological advances were in place in 2010, and the market for iron ore had dramatically increased that sizable financial backing was available for the high cost of development in a remote region known for its inhospitable climate. The mine began operations in 2014, and the first shipment to Europe arrived in 2015. Baffinland is currently planning on expanding the mine. In February 2021, a group of Inuit hunters blockaded access to the mine for a week to protest the expansion.
In May 2021, a work camp for the mine experienced a COVID-19 outbreak, including the first cases of the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in the territory.
The Mary River area has "long been known to Inuit as Nuluujaat, a landmark used to travel through North Baffin Island" in what is now known as Qikiqtani Region, Nunavut.
The Mary River property contains four iron ore deposits, numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 that contain high grade direct shipping iron ore (DSO), with ore grades between 65% and 70%. Because they require no further processing to be used in blast furnaces for steel-making they are priced higher than lower grades.[citation needed] The iron ore body was identified in 1962 by Murray Edmund Watts, who was the regional head of Baffinland predecessor company—British Ungava Explorations Ltd. (Brunex). Watts had sighted Mary River's four massive iron ore deposits—large black circles of 65-70% pure iron ore—from his Cessna airplane. Watts died in 1982, and had never been able to find investors for the project. In 1986, a private company, Baffinland Iron Mines Ltd., held the Mary River Project claims and leases.
In 1978, Gordon McCreary submitted his Queen's MBA thesis on the feasibility of developing iron ore in the Mary River area with a focus on transporting the iron ore in Arctic conditions to tidewater by permafrost land, and by sea through packed ice. Richard McCloskey, who became Baffinland's CEO in 2010, had been friends with McCreary in the engineering department at Queen's in 1969. In 2002, McCreary and McCloskey gained a controlling interest in Baffinland. They took it public in 2004, and established Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation. Baffinland then had the funds to complete testing and surveys, and they confirmed the purity of the ore at 65-70% pure and the potential of the resource—337 million tons. The Mary River Mine was "one of the largest undeveloped iron ore deposits in the world". By 2006, the price of iron ore increased as there was a global shortage for the first time since the 1970s. It was at this time that interest in developing iron ore mines in both the Labrador Trough, near Schefferville, Quebec and in Mary River had increased.
In or around the mid-2000s, BIMC presented a proposal to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA)—the regional Inuit organization authorized by the Nunavut government, that represents Inuit in the entire Baffin Island area—for the Mary River project. The proposal was for an open pit iron ore mine, to be developed and exploited on Inuit-owned land (IOL). The proposal, which was informed by the commissioned report, estimated a total cost of CA$4.1 B, and included a CA$1.2 B 149 km (93 mi) cold-weather railway running south—the South Railway—from the mine to a CA$0.7B deep-water all season facility in Steensby Inlet in southern Baffin with a planned production of 18 million tonnes per annum (MT/a). By September 2006, a QIA member vocally supported the development of the Mary River project, saying that, "You're talking about [jobs] for your grandchildren—and their grandchildren." By 2006, Baffinland began investigating the feasibility of a cold-weather railway from the Mary River to a mining port and by 2006, Canarail had provided an estimate of CA$350 million to build the railway. Baffinland had considered two options—a North Railway and a South Railway—a 105-kilometre (65 mi) route to Milne Inlet and a 143-kilometre (89 mi) route to Steensby Inlet.
As of 2009, Canada, with 7.9 billion tons of iron ore reserves, had nearly 42% of the global iron ore resources. The majority of the iron ore in Canada comes from Nunavut's Mary River Mine and from Schefferville, Quebec, which is in the Labrador Trough. In 2017 Canadian iron ore mines produced 49 million tons of iron ore in concentrate pellets and 13.6 million tons of crude steel. Of the 13.6 million tons of steel 7 million was exported, and 43.1 million tons of iron ore was exported at a value of $4.6 billion. Of the iron ore exported 38.5% of the volume was iron ore pellets with a value of $2.3 billion and 61.5% was iron ore concentrates with a value of $2.3 billion.
In 2011, the Government of Canada, under the direction of the Conservative majority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, fostered Arctic exploration and industrial mining as the "beacon of the future" that would "unlock development possibilities in the North." By 2013, "mineral exploration funds" had begun to "dry up" and new development was being scaled back across Northern Canada. In their 2013 book Northern Canada : history, politics, and memory, the authors said that Baffinland's "massive Mary River project was the most dramatic example—Baffinland "radically curtailed its investment and development plans, cancelling a proposed railway and port development...and scaling back its project investment to $740 million from an initial projection of $4 billion."