Two positive COVID-19 tests confirmed at Meliadine gold mine

Agnico Eagle Mines confirmed that two workers at its Meliadine gold mine near Rankin Inlet tested positive for COVID-19.

Both employees were presumptivepositive after testing last week and were flown to their home province of Quebec where the positive tests were confirmed, the company said in a statement on Monday.

The two employees were instructed to self-isolate for 14 days and follow the recommendations of their provincial health authority.

They will be tested again before they are allowed to come back to work at the mine, the company said.

Twenty-two people were identified as potential contacts of the two employees, Agnico Eagle Mines said in the statement. They were all put in self-isolation and flown to their respective home provinces onspecial charter flights, with instructions to self-isolate for 14 days. The company said they will also all be re-tested before they are allowed to come back to the mine site.

"As an extra precautionary measure, all employees that were at the mine site have been re-tested over the past week and have returned negative," the statement said.

The company said it worked closely with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer of Nunavut, and followed its recommendations. It added the risk to the community of Rankin Inlet is very low.