The Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project is a plan to build an all-weather road from Bathurst Inlet in Nunavut to a complex of mines that are approximately equidistant between Bathurst Inlet and Yellowknife, NWT. There are no paved roads between Yellowknife and the mines, so they have relied on shipping supplies to the mines over winter-time ice roads. However, in 2005, there was a particularly warm winter, and the ice roads weren't safe for a long enough period to bring in supplies.

A consortium of seven mining companies sponsored environmental impact studies to construct a deep-water port in Bathurst Inlet.[1][2]

A plan referred to the Nunavut Impact Review Board in May 2004 projected a capacity to moor vessels of up to 50,000 tonnes.[3][4][5][6] In this earlier plan the Bathurst Inlet Road would be an ice road, like that from Yellowknife, not an all-weather road as in post-2005 proposals, following the failure of the ice road to freeze early enough to allow transport of a whole year's worth of supplies.[1][2]

The project was put on hold in 2008.[7] It was re-initiated, in 2012.[8]

By 2013 three mining companies were the proponents of the road: GlencoreXstrata, Sabina Gold and Silver Corporation.[9]

Nunatsiaq reported that the project failed an environmental review in 2016, but passed with a revised proposal in 2017.[10] They reported the port facility was substantially completed, by September 2018, with only a single certification required before it could open for business. They reported that the port cost $24 million CAD.[11][12]

References

  1. 1 2 Bob Weber (July 4, 2007). "Arctic port plan gathers steam". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  2. 1 2 Jonathan Ratner (July 5, 2007). "New Arctic port plan for Northern miners". National Post. Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved 2020-02-24. Rising commodity prices are being cited as the reason behind re-ignited plans to build a deep-water port at Bathurst Inlet in Canada's Arctic.
  3. ↑ "Case Study: Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project". Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. 2005-05-08. Archived from the original on 2007-03-23. Retrieved 2020-02-24. The revised project (BIPAR Joint Venture Ltd., 2003; NIRB, 2004a) entails a marine port on Bathurst Inlet and a 211-km all-weather road to Contwoyto Lake, where it will connect to the existing winter road24 extending to Tibbitt Lake near Yellowknife, NWT (see Figure 6). The purpose of the port and road is to service a number of mines and potential mines, and to provide an alternative and shorter route for re-supply of fuel and goods to communities in the area.
  4. ↑ "Social and Economic Considerations for the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment" (PDF). Integrated Environments. 2008-03-31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-11-15.
  5. ↑ "Bathurst Inlet Port & Road Joint Venture Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada". Nuna. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  6. ↑ "The Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project". Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum. 2004. Archived from the original on 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-02-23. The only road infrastructure developed within the (SGP) has been the 630km winter road from Yellowknife to Lupin Mine, now servicing Ekati™ and Diavik.
  7. ↑ "Bathurst Inlet road, port project put on hold again: Partners ask Nunavut environmental assessors to delay technical review". CBC News. 2008-08-06. Archived from the original on 2016-02-13. Proponents of the $270-million Bathurst Inlet port and road proposal have put the project on hold again, over uncertainty about who will use and pay for the remote northern road and port.
  8. ↑ Joshua Gladstone (2012-04-05). "Nunavut: Bathurst Inlet Port and Road redux?". Northern Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2020-02-23. In a letter dated March 30, 2012, Michel Boucher of Xstrata Zinc Canada and Matthew Pickard of Sabina Gold and Silver Corp. indicated their companies' intention to re-engage the BIPAR project and submit a revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement to the Nunavut Impact Review Board before the end of 2012.
  9. ↑ "Bathurst Inlet Port & Road (BIPR) Project" (PDF). Mining North. 2013-05-28. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2020-02-23. The BIPR Company is a joint venture currently composed of GlencoreXstrata and Sabina Gold and Silver Corporation formed for the purpose of being the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road project proponent.
  10. ↑ Jane George (2018-09-06). "Western Nunavut mine's port, tank farm completed at Bathurst Inlet". Nunatsiaq. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2020-02-23. The project, rejected by regulators in 2016 for its environmental impacts and then approved a year later, now has only its Type A water certificate to go before completing the regulatory process.
  11. ↑ "Briefing Note: Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project (BIPAR) and impacts on species in the Slave Geological Province (SGP) (NWT and Nunavut)". Canadian Arctic Resources Committee. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2020-02-24. A transportation corridor through the SGP was first suggested in 1955 by the NWT's Commissioner, R. G.Roberston.
  12. ↑ "Our Programmes: Sustainable Development". Canadian Arctic Resources Committee. Archived from the original on 2009-08-21. Retrieved 2020-02-24. Nunavut wants to build a deep-sea port right in the calving grounds of the herd, where it would be used to store fuel oil for resupplying mines and communities and store metal ores for shipment to smelters. It wants to connect the port site to the mineral and diamond-rich territory to the southwest by a 215 km all-weather road-a road that would pass through the migratory route followed by the Bathurst Caribou herd from April through October.
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