The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Omicron variant infecting miner's gold production in Nunavut North of 60 Mining News - December 23, 2021
Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank mill complex in Nunavut.
With the rise of the Omicron variant and the 13 presumptive COVID-19 cases at its Meliadine and Hope Bay gold mines in Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. is sending its Nunavummiut (Nunavut residents) workforce home with pay for at least three weeks.
In March of 2020, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Agnico made a similar decision to send its Nunavummiut workers home for at least four weeks.
"We value our relationship with the people of Nunavut and are committed to do what is best for the health, safety and well-being of all our employees and the communities," Agnico Eagle Mines CEO Sean Boyd explained at the time. "This precautionary measure is being implemented in order to eliminate the potential risk of transmission of COVID-19 from a southern worker to a Nunavut worker, with the risk of it moving into the communities."
This virus firewall between Nunavummiut and outside workers at Agnico's Nunavut operations ended up lasting for more than a year, with the first of the Nunavut-based workers being integrated back into the company's northern Canada gold operations around mid-2021.
Now, less than six months back on the job, all Nunavummiut workers at Agnico's three Nunavut gold operations – Hope Bay, Meadowbank-Amaruq, and Meliadine – are being sent home with pay and benefits for at least three weeks, but likely longer.
In addition, Agnico is meeting with Nunavut contractors that provide services to these operations to discuss implementing similar measures for their Nunavummiut workforce.
A primary difference between this current exodus of Nunavummiut from Agnico operations, compared to the first, is the apparent cases of COVID in two of the camps. This situation is shaping up to have more profound effects on Agnico's Nunavut gold production going into 2022.
"Over the next several days, the company will gradually reduce the remaining workforce and activity levels at its Nunavut operations. This reduction in activity is expected to last for the remainder of 2021 and there is expected to be minimal production over this period," Agnico penned in its announcement on reducing the workforce at its Nunavut gold mines and projects.
The company said it is reassessing its existing COVID protocols in anticipation of resuming activities early in 2022 but that could change.
"This is a rapidly evolving situation and the company is monitoring activities at its other operations and it will reassess its response on an ongoing basis," the company penned.
While it is currently unclear how long Agnico's Nunavut mines will run at minimal production, this situation is expected to have at least some effect on first quarter 2022 production as it will take some time to ramp back up to full operations.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
Reader Comments(0)