MacLean Engineering has partnered with the Rankin Inlet-based Nunavut Investments Ltd to create Nunavut MacLean Inc., an Inuit-owned business registered on NTI’s Inuit Firm Registry. This new business will provide a long-term platform for supporting MacLean speciality mobile equipment at Agnico Eagle’s underground mines in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.
Nunavut Investments Ltd is owned and operated by Patrick Tagoona, a Rankin Inlet resident and entrepreneur who also has an extensive professional background with executive staff positions at the Kivalliq Inuit Association and the Government of Nunavut, as well as the President of Sakku Investments Corporation.
There are currently over 30 MacLean mining vehicles servicing Agnico Eagle’s Nunavut operations at the new Meliadine underground mine and the Amaruq Whale Tail underground project. The Agnico Eagle fleet of MacLean mobile equipment in the Kivalliq spans the range of production support mining vehicle categories, including rock bolting, concrete transporting, material transporting, explosives charging, shotcrete spraying, secondary reduction drilling, mobile rockbreaking as well as elevated platform maintenance and services installation.
“I am excited to partner with a leading mining vehicle manufacturer in support of a leading mining company that is creating sustainable job and business opportunities for the Kivalliq,” remarks Patrick Tagoona, President of Nunavut Investments Ltd. “This type of true partnership is how resource development should be done.”
“This is the third Aboriginal agreement we have forged in Canada, building on the success of our First Nation partnership for the Borden project in Ontario, as well as the First Nation and Inuit partnerships for the Voisey’s Bay project in Newfoundland & Labrador,” remarks MacLean President, Kevin MacLean.
“We’re honoured to be a part of the Agnico Eagle story across the Americas and especially in Nunavut, with our Val d’Or branch leading the way on account management, commissioning, training, and field service support,” notes Tony Caron, MacLean’s Vice President for the Americas, which includes the mining region of Nunavut. “Creating a business with Patrick Tagoona is a testament to our commitment to the Kivalliq and to ensuring that our mining vehicles working underground at Meliadine and Amaruq have the best possible support network above ground, one that builds local capacity for servicing heavy equipment in the Arctic.”