Employees to remain at Lac des Iles mine for additional week, as operation goes into quarantine - Action News
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Thunder Bay

Employees to remain at Lac des Iles mine for additional week, as operation goes into quarantine

Employees currently on site at the Lac des Iles mine, about 90 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., will be held in quarantine on the site for another week.

Employees will wind down mine operations, as it goes into care and maintenance

The Lac des Iles mine, about 90 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., has been ordered into quarantine by the Thunder Bay District Health Unit after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19 on April 7. (Jeff Walters/CBC)

Employees currently on site at the Lac des Iles mine, about 90 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., will be held in quarantine on the site for another week.

An employee at the operation tested positive for COVID-19 on April 7, but the worker was off site as of April 4.

The employee has been in self-isolation at home in Thunder Bay.

On the evening of April 9, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU) put the mine and its associated camp into quarantine.

"With one confirmed case of COVID-19, the TBDHU determined that there is potential for the virus to be incubating within individuals on site," said Erin Satterthwaite, the vice president of corporate affairs and communications with Impala Canada, the mine's owner.

"It is now our job to contain the potential spread of this virus and protect our families and our communities. We are taking this very seriously and are working in close collaboration with public health."

"Everyone currently on site at LDI must remain until Saturday, April 18th," she said, noting by that time, everybody on site would be past a 14-day quarantine. The current crew on site would have their rotation extended by five days.

"We will use this quarantine period to ramp down our operation to a state of care and maintenance. The length of time we remain on care and maintenance will be determined and communicated in the coming days."

The company said the TBDHU has said it is taking extraordinary precautions to keep its employees safe.

"Together with the TBDHU, it is our hope that this incubation will pass so that we can say with confidence to each of our employees - you are safe to go home to your loved ones."