In an effort to gain control over a COVID-19 outbreak at the Mary River mine, Baffinland Iron Mines announced Wednesday that production has been temporarily suspended.
As of Tuesday, there were 12 confirmed cases of the coronavirus at the mine site. The first known case there was detected on Sunday.
Baffinland stated that non-essential workers will be removed from the site until the COVID-19 outbreak has been contained. Essential workers will remain in place to maintain infrastructure and to continue environmental monitoring.
Industrial cleaners will be brought in to conduct thorough sanitization.
“Baffinland is providing its site-based workforce with an opportunity to access COVID-19 vaccinations and discussions are ongoing for an additional option to vaccinate workers at site in the future,” the company stated. “The Mary River project has maintained no contact between Nunavut communities and its workforce since early 2020 and the risk to communities from this outbreak remains low.”