Baffinland scales back its 2012 plans again

Baffinland Iron Mines has again scaled back its work plan for this year at its Mary River iron project.

The company blames a decision by the Nunavut Impact Review Board earlier this month turning down the companys request to park a 10-million litre fuel barge at Steensby Inlet.

The company wanted the fuel on hand so it could build infrastructure to support a proposed mine.

"It's a bit of a lost opportunity when it comes to mobilizing some of this equipment and material to site in 2012," said Greg Missal, Baffinland's vice-president of corporate affairs.

"We obviously would have needed to add to our workforce in order to accomplish that amount of work, so that probably would have an effect on some local hiring."

In December, Baffinland also scaled back its work plansfor the year after withdrawing an application to start major construction at the Mary River site before the iron project receives regulatory approval. But Missal said the overall project is still on track.

Last month,the company submitted its Final Environmental Impact Statementfor the proposed mine to the NIRB. The board is still reviewing the document, and plans public hearings for later this year.