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Agnico Eagle commits $5 million to Kivalliq mine training centre and mental health programs

Mining company Agnico Eagle is donating $5 million toward a mine training centre to be built in Rankin Inlet and mental health programs.

Agnico Eagle CEO Sean Boyd announced the company is donating $5 million toward a mine training centre in Rankin Inlet and mental health initiatives.
photo courtesy of Agnico Eagle

CEO Sean Boyd made the announcement during the Northern Lights trade show in Ottawa on Thursday.

With two gold mines in the Kivalliq, Agnico Eagle employs 438 Inuit directly and through contractors out of a workforce totalling close to 2,400 full-time positions. The company’s annual Nunavut payroll is more than $100 million, and almost $29 million of that is paid to Inuit employees.

The specifics behind the mental health funding have yet to be ironed out.

“We don’t have all the answers yet as to what form our support will take, but we will be reaching out to key stakeholders and partners to help us understand the best path forward,” Boyd said. “We believe that by investing in this type of social infrastructure, we can empower Inuit youth – help them build personal resilience and pride and develop a set of life-skills that will help them meet the complex challenges of tomorrow.”

In 2014, Agnico Eagle donated $5 million toward a future university in Iqaluit.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Agnico Eagle is the right development partners for
Canada’s North, with the right the cultural sensitivity, to help bring forward the potential
the North’s people and their rich natural heritage,” Boyd told the audience in Ottawa.