Baffinland Iron Mines lays off staff at Ontario headquarters

Tom Paddon is no longer president and CEO of Baffinland Iron Mines, CBC has confirmed.

Paddon joined Baffinland in May 2011 and is now the company's non-executive chairman, Baffinland said in a statement.

Brett McLeod was appointed acting CEO as of Nov. 25. He came over as the vice-president and the head of mining projects with ArcelorMittal – the parent company which owns 47 per cent of Baffinland as part of a joint-venture with Nunavut Iron Ore.

Baffinland is looking for a permanent CEO.

Baffinland implemented layoffs at its headquarters in Oakville, Ont., last month.

Vice-president of corporate affairs Greg Missal was laid off as of Nov. 6, and a receptionist was also let go. It's unclear how many others were laid off, or if layoffs have occurred at other sites.

When contacted by CBC, Missal said he signed a confidentiality clause and would not discuss his departure.

The company's Mary River iron mining operation is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Pond Inlet, Nunavut. It shipped its first load of iron ore in August.

CBC first inquired about staffing cuts in October at which time Missal, while still in office, replied saying contractor employees had left Mary River as a result of work being completed.

Baffinland previously implemented a 10 per cent wage cut at the Mary River site in September amid a global drop in the price of iron.

The company has been asking Nunavut regulators to allow it to ship ore 10 months of the year through Baffin Bay, instead of just during the summer, in order to triple the amount of ore shipped to 12 million tonnes per year.

In April, the Nunavut Planning Commission determined that Baffinland's proposal was too disruptive for wildlife and did not conform to the North Baffin Land Use Plan currently in place.

In July, the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development granted Baffinland an exemption from the land use plan, allowing it to take its shipping proposal directly to the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna and the mayor and council of Pond Inlet had backed the company's request for a land use plan exemption, saying that regulatory delay by NPC could endanger the jobs and benefits the project would bring to the territory.