The Meliadine Gold Mine Project was assessed by NIRB from 2011-2015. It was approved to proceed on February 26, 2015 subject to the terms and conditions of Project Certificate No. 006. This project dashboard contains the original assessment information as well as monitoring information through to the approval of an amended Project Certificate associated with the Saline Effluent Discharge proposal in 2019.

Modified from the 2015 Project Description: The Meliadine Gold Mine Project (�The Project�) is a proposed gold mine located in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, 25 kilometres (km) north from Rankin Inlet and 80 km southwest from Chesterfield Inlet. The Project involves continued exploration, construction, operation, closure, and reclamation of both underground and open-pit mines and associated infrastructure for extraction, processing and transportation of gold. There are three main Project areas: the Tiriganiaq mine site, the Discovery deposit and the Itivia Harbour. The mining of gold ore will occur at the five (5) deposits through a phased approach, Tiriganiaq, Wesmeg, Pump, F Zone, and Discovery. Tiriganiaq will be the only deposit where gold will be mined through both above ground and underground methods, with the other deposits being mined using open pit methods. The mine is estimated to extract 2.8 million ounces of gold reserves.

The construction period will take approximately 3 years with operations beginning within 2 years and lasting 13 years, and closure and post-closure activities ongoing for up to 10 years. Mine life will have the potential to be extended dependent on development of additional economically viable mineral deposits. Peak operational phase will involve extraction of 8,500 tonnes of ore per day with up to 3.1 million tonnes of ore extracted annually. The project anticipates the creation of up to 1000 direct jobs through construction and 700 jobs through operations.

The Project will include all infrastructure for extraction, processing and transportation of gold including water management infrastructure; waste rock storage facilities and a tailings storage area. The following on-site infrastructure is proposed to support mining activities: ore-processing plant (near the Tiriganiaq mine site); power plant; fuel tank farm(s); explosives storage area; haul and service roads; water treatment plant; incinerator; sewage treatment facility; maintenance facility; and accommodations and camp facilities for up to 680 personnel. Tailings from ore grinding and gold processing will be treated for cyanide and released into the tailings storage facility.

Supplies will be shipped to Itivia Harbour in Melvin Bay (located in Rankin Inlet) during the open water season. The Itivia Harbour facilities will include a spud barge, laydown areas and a fuel tank farm. Supplies and personnel will also be transported via Rankin Inlet�s current airport.

Transportation to the mine will occur via a previously approved 24 km all-weather access road (AWAR) with restricted access. Phase 2 of AWAR will be an upgrade of the currently existing and previously approved Phase 1 of the AWAR. As part of construction of Phase 2 of the AWAR, a spur road would be developed to connect the main road with the south end of Meliadine Lake to allow for public access to the Lake. Phase 2 of the AWAR will not be completed until the development of the Discovery deposit commences and will entail constructing a second road which will run parallel but separately from the public road, for mine traffic only.