Peter’s Expediting Ltd., based in Baker Lake, has been contracted to provide a number of services for Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. in connection with the Meadowbank processing centre and Amaruq gold mine. The company currently provides bus service for weekly crew changes to the local mine site. Its fleet of passenger vans and bus allows it to transport groups of up to 34 passengers for crew changes or community tours. Meadowbank achieved commercial production in March 2010, going on to produce its three millionth ounce of gold in 2018 before ceasing operations in 2019. The support infrastructure and mill facilities at the original site are still being used for supporting the satellite mine at Amaruq. Unless more gold is discovered, Meadowbank and Amaruq are slated to be closed in 2028. Peter Tapatai started Peter’s Expediting Ltd. (PEL) in 1998. Born in Chesterfield Inlet and highly successful in Baker Lake, Tapatai received the territory’s highest honour, the Order of Nunavut, in 2020. PEL has between 20-to-30 employees during the busy sealift and overland haul season and about 15 employees during what’s referred to as “the quiet season.” The company’s workforce is 100 per cent Inuit. PEL manager of administration Ami Tootoo said the services offered by the company include local cargo delivery, cargo aircraft offloading, sealift offloading, overland haul and bus services. She said the company uses pickup trucks, cargo trucks, loaders, dump trucks, tractor trailers and CAT Challengers to provide its services. “Our staff enjoy their jobs and they take pride in their work,” said Tootoo. “It is not always an easy job to do — working sealift, offloading in rain, or overland hauling in snow storms — but the staff like the job. “PEL believes heavily in providing training to our staff. We have had staff participate in Class 1 and 3 driver’s training, as well as hyster operator training,” Tootoo added. “We also ran a mechanic-helper-training program in 2023-2024 in partnership with ABF Arctic and Agnico Eagle. The program saw 10 graduates, who have gone on to pursue various jobs.”
Almost three decades of success in Baker Lake
