Fire contained at Baffinland's Milne Inlet port site in Nunavut

Baffinland Iron Mines says it has contained a fire thatoccurred earlier this afternoon at the Milne Inletport site of the company's Mary River mining operationlocated 160 kilometres southwest of Pond Inlet, Nunavut.

"The fire has now been contained by the onsite emergency responseteam and all personnel onsite are accounted for and safe," the company said in an update issued at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.

In areleaseissued less than an hour earlier, the company said the fire waslocated inside "a contractor's temporary shop" at the port site.

Baffinland's mine rescue teams, who are trained in emergency response, were immediately notified of the fire, the company said.

According to Baffinland's website, "many people on Baffinland's Emergency Response Team are volunteer."In February, the response team underwent "Real Firetraining sessions" at the Milne Inlet site in-42 C weather.

Environment Canada reporteda temperature of -26 C for Pond Inlet with winds at 4 km/h Wednesday afternoon.

No further details about the fire are available at this time, though the company said in its update thatan investigation into the cause of the fire will be undertaken.

According to a March 26 press release, Baffinlandwason trackto start shippingironore from Milne Inletduring the 2015 open water season.

A proposal to expand the mine's shipping schedule to 10 months a year was recently rejected by the Nunavut Planning Commission.