Fire contained at Baffinland's Milne Inlet port site in Nunavut
CBC News | Posted: April 15, 2015 7:01 PM | Last Updated: April 15, 2015
All personnel on site safe and accounted for, says Baffinland Iron Mines
Baffinland Iron Mines says it has contained a fire that occurred earlier this afternoon at the Milne Inlet port site of the company's Mary River mining operation located 160 kilometres southwest of Pond Inlet, Nunavut.
"The fire has now been contained by the onsite emergency response team and all personnel onsite are accounted for and safe," the company said in an update issued at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.
In a release issued less than an hour earlier, the company said the fire was located inside "a contractor's temporary shop" at the port site.
Baffinland's mine rescue teams, who are trained in emergency response, were immediately notified of the fire, the company said.
According to Baffinland's website, "many people on Baffinland's Emergency Response Team are volunteer." In February, the response team underwent "Real Fire training sessions" at the Milne Inlet site in -42 C weather.
Environment Canada reported a temperature of -26 C for Pond Inlet with winds at 4 km/h Wednesday afternoon.
No further details about the fire are available at this time, though the company said in its update that an investigation into the cause of the fire will be undertaken.
According to a March 26 press release, Baffinland was on track to start shipping iron ore from Milne Inlet during the 2015 open water season.
A proposal to expand the mine's shipping schedule to 10 months a year was recently rejected by the Nunavut Planning Commission.