[4][5] It was not until technological advances were in place in 2010, and the market for iron ore had dramatically increased that sizable financial backing for the high cost of development in a remote region known for its inhospitable climate, was available.

[13] In 2011, the Canadian government, under the premiership of Stephen Harper, fostered Arctic exploration[14] and industrial mining as the "beacon of the future" that would "unlock development possibilities in the North.

[28] Public consultations were held in April 2007 in Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, Cape Dorset, Clyde River, Igloolik, Hall Beach, and Kimmirut—the hamlets that were "most impacted" by the project.

[9] In 2007 and 2008 Baffinland mined a large bulk of samples of iron ore from Mary River deposit 1 to be tested by ArcelorMittal and ThyssenKrupp Steel AG in their large-scale blast furnaces in Europe.

In July Waheed met with Baffinland CEO Richard McCloskey about a phased approach which would include an early stage production of up to two million tonnes of iron ore at Mary River hauled via the "tote road" and shipped from Milne Inlet.

In December, McCreary, went to China hoping to finalize a deal to prevent either ArcelorMittal or Nunavut Iron Ore from acquiring the company he had spent decades of his life building.

McCreary strongly disagreed with the phase approach that Waheed had suggested, in which the company would begin to haul and iron ore on a tote road from Mary River mine to Milne Inlet where it would be shipped.

A January 2011 La Presse article described the Mary River Mine, as "one of the most promising undeveloped iron deposits on the planet" that was "hiding north of Baffin Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

[41]: 1  This consisted of mining and shipping iron ore at a rate of 18 Million tonnes per year (Mt/a), constructing the South Railway and port facilities at Steensby Inlet.

[42][3]: 2 Prior to its formal submission of its October 29, 2014 its Mary River Phase 2 Proposal to the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC), Baffinland had begun to request major changes to its 2012 regulations, within a year of the completion of NIRD's 2012 environmental review.

[46] According to a June 2020 Moody's Investors Service credit report, "Baffinland plans to expand the Mary River mine to a capacity of 18 Mtpa 18 million metric tons, or tonnes" in Phase 3.

[55] On July 6, 2016, the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), one of the organizations that sits on an oversight board, the mine's Marine Environment Working Group, criticized Baffinland for a lack of transparency.

"[57] By January 2021, the NIRB confirmed that the final public hearings regarding the Phase 2 proposal, remained on schedule in spite of requests made by the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization of Pond Inlet and the Hamlet of Clyde River for postponements, as their southern attorneys could not be physically present with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in place.

A 2015 Nunavut News article said that the federal government had placed itself at the "centre of a big regulatory fight" over BIMC's "ambitious and controversial expansion plan" for the Mary River Mine.

[64][65][66] The first shipment from Mary River mine left Milne Inlet on August 8, 2015, with a load of 53,624 tonnes of iron ore on a bulk carrier destined for Germany.

"[68][69] CBC reported in November 2014, that Baffinland's proposal to ship iron ore from Milne Inlet 10 months a year left Nunavutmiut feeling shock, surprise and anger.

[41] In their August 2018, general summary, Baffinland described this amendment to the Phase 2 proposal as having an increase from 6 Mtpa to 12 Mpta, as well as, the construction of a new North Railway that would run parallel to the existing Milne Inlet "tote road".

With these future expansions, Baffinland's goal was to carry an additional 18 million tonnes annually with "ships sailing through Foxe Basin and Davis Strait" to markets in Europe and elsewhere around the globe.

[70] In May 2022, the NIRB rejected Baffinland's 2018 request, stating that expansion of the mine would potentially incur “significant and lasting negative effects on marine mammals, the marine environment, fish, caribou and other terrestrial wildlife, vegetation and freshwater," and that "these negative effects could also impact Inuit harvesting, culture, land use and food security.”[71] By 2021, the only operational port was in Milne Inlet with a shipping route that including transitting through protected waters surrounding Bylot Island.

Baffinland's NIRB 2012 certificate authorizes them to develop and use an "all-season deep-water port and ship loading facility"[28] at Steensby Inlet on the coast of southeast Baffin Island.

[73] However, as iron ore prices declined significantly from 2013 onwards, Baffinland chose the less capital intensive option of developing marine infrastructure at Milne Inlet.

[41]: 4  The Phase 2 proposal will be making use of the public airstrips Arctic Bay, Clyde River, Hall Beach, Igloolik, and Pond Inlet—the five closest hamlets—and Iqaluit to transport workers to and from worksites.

[27] According to the Financial Post this would have been the most northerly operational railroad in the world[86] the Baffinland mine being about a degree of latitude farther north than the Russian railhead in the Yamal Peninsula.

Six months later Baffinland announced that they would build a northern railway line running adjacent to the tote road to transport the iron ore to Milne Inlet.

The three-member arbitration board consists of Thomas R. Berger, a retired judge and former Royal Commissioner of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and highly respected by Indigenous Canadians, Jim McCartney and Murray Smith.

[94] By 2021, Baffinland's Mary River project had provided employment to fewer than 100 Inuit from local communities impacted by the mine, and had hired hundreds of non-Inuit who were flown into work camps.

[110] Jaypetee Palluq, an Igloolik resident who had been asked to serve on a Baffinland advisory committee, was concerned that the mine's operation would interfere with the traditional hunts for sea mammals, like walrus.

Michael Nadler, the regional director general of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs speculated that mine officials may not have felt an obligation to publicly report the leaks because they believed there had been no damage.

Michael Nadler, the regional director general of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs speculated that mine officials may not have felt an obligation to publicly report the leaks because they believed there had been no damage.

[115][117] Judge Susan Cooper granted Baffinland an interlocutory injunction on March 3, forbidding protestors from returning to the mine and from impeding the obstructing the tote road and air strip, and empowering the RCMP to remove them if they did.