Agnico sends Nunavut site workers home amid rising covid-19 cases

Agnico’s Meliadine mine site near Rankin Inlet, the company’s largest gold deposit in Nunavut. Credit: Agnico Eagle Mines

Gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd said on Wednesday it is sending workers from three of its Canadian operations back home for at least three weeks amid rising cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Omicron has swept through Canada and has become the dominant coronavirus variant, causing renewed restrictions in the country’s provinces.

Toronto-based Agnico said there have been a total of 13 presumptive cases of covid-19 since Dec. 18 at its operations of Meliadine, Meadowbank Complex and Hope Bay in Canada’s Nunavut territory.

“This reduction in activity is expected to last for the remainder of 2021 and there is expected to be minimal production over this period,” Agnico said.

The miner said it has increased testing protocols at all its Nunavut operations for remaining workers, adding that it is reviewing its existing covid-19 protocols ahead of 2022.

(By Ruhi Soni; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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