Canadian mining company sent termination notices to over 1,100 employees

On Sunday, the Canadian mining company Baffinland sent out termination notices to more than 1,100 of its employees, including 200 Inuit employees, reports CBC Canada.

Baffinland produces ore on Baffin Island in the territory of Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic.

In May, the company asked the federal government for an emergency permit to continue to mine and truck up to six million tonnes of ore from its Mary River mine on Baffin Island this year. Without such a permit, the mine's future will be at risk, the company said, warning of mass redundancies. This was also previously reported by CBC Canada.

Baffinland is now preparing two rounds of terminations which will take effect on 25 September and 11 October if the permit is not granted. This could affect employees in all parts of the company's northern operations.

In 2018, the company received a temporary approval to increase its production from 4.2 to 6 million tonnes of ore, and this was extended until 2021.

Currently, the Nunavut Impact Review Board is reviewing a request from Baffinland to continue ore extraction at a similar rate as in recent years.