Labrador Iron Trough – Republic of Mining

Rio Tinto plans to list Canadian iron ore unit in early 2019: sources – by John Tilak, Joshua Franklin and Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – December 24, 2018)

January 4, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) is preparing to take its Iron Ore Company of Canada business public in the first half of 2019 by dual-listing it in New York and Toronto, people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The company has hired investment banks Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) to lead the IPO, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.

Rio Tinto, the world’s second-biggest listed miner, is targeting a valuation of about $4 billion, they said. While Rio did not see much traction with a sale process, it has not ruled that out, the people said.

New mining pit in Labrador west extends IOC’s mine operations 50 years (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – September 25, 2018)

September 26, 2018

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

The Moss Pit has officially opened at the Iron Ore Company of Canada’s Labrador City mine. IOC says the $79-million investment is not a massive hole in the ground yet, but as it is scooped out it will allow the company to speed up production and extend the life of the mine by about 50 years — and at a reduced operating cost.

“It’s been a long time coming. A little over five years,” said Clayton Walker, president and CEO of Iron Ore Company of Canada. Walker said it’s the right time to invest, feeling that support is in place from stakeholders, government, employees, local unions and there’s confidence in the market.

“I’ve been really pleased with how everyone has come back, we got back to work, everyone’s working hard,” he said, referencing the labour-management dispute which started at the mine last winter and stretched into spring.

NEWS RELEASE: Development of the Labrador Trough – Position of the Innu of the North Shore (April 13, 2018)

April 16, 2018

UASHAT MAK MANI-UTENAM, QC, April 13, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ – In response to yesterday’s announcement of a new partnership between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador with respect to the development of the Labrador Trough, the Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam and the Matimekush-Lac John Council wish to highlight the fact that the Labrador Trough is largely located within the traditional territory (Nitassinan) of the Innu of Uashat mak Mani-utenam and the Innu of Matimekush-Lac John, both of whom assert Aboriginal title and rights to the trough and the minerals found therein.

“Quebec and Newfoundland continue to live in a bygone era, one in which they believe it is still possible to disregard First Nations on their own territories.

Not only was Quebec just recently trying to sideline us from federal environmental assessments, but is now entering into partnership agreements that we are learning about after the fact.” Said Chief Mike McKenzie of the Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam.

Ball, Couillard talk mining, roads – by David Maher (St. John’s Telegram – April 12, 2018)

April 13, 2018

http://www.thetelegram.com/

N.L. and Quebec seek to expand mining in Labrador Trough

Premier Dwight Ball and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard are sending a signal that the Labrador Trough is open for business for the mining industry.

The provinces entered an agreement on Thursday to send a signal that they aim to work together on jurisdictional and geological information. One of the goals is to eliminate jurisdictional squabbles over the Labrador-Quebec border that could delay mining the area.

“Both our jurisdictions are recognized as an attractive place to do business. What we want to do is make sure that we do a better job of sharing information,” Ball said.

‘Proof is in the pudding’ and the iron ore is there, says Tacora on Wabush Mines – by Stephanie Tobin (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – July 20, 2017)

July 21, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

First employees getting hired, company will be in Lab West to prep for business by next summer

The company that purchased the Scully Mine in Wabush says it has a five-year deal with the world’s largest iron ore trader and hopes to have the operation back up and running by this time next year.

Tacora Resources is currently going through the Companies’ Creditors Agreement Act (CCAA) purchase process for the site, since the mine has been locked in creditor protection since being shuttered by Cliffs Natural Resources in 2014.

Matt Lehtinen, Tacora CEO and president, says his company has been looking at Wabush Mines since January 2016 and working hard these past eight months to buy and reopen the operation. “I really thought that we had found a diamond in the rough,” he said. “We saw a lot of potential.”

Couillard wants Quebec and Newfoundland to cooperate on mining, roads – by Presse Canadienne (Montreal Gazette – July 19, 2017)

July 20, 2017

http://montrealgazette.com/

EDMONTON — The premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland say their governments will work to increase mining in the Labrador trough and expand Route 138 in the Côte-Nord region.

Discussions between both governments began Wednesday in Edmonton during a meeting of Canada’s premiers and could end in a formal agreement by year’s end, according to Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

The two provinces share a border, near Blanc Sablon, and their relationship hasn’t always been an easy one. For years the Newfoundland government has contested the Churchill Falls agreement, which largely benefits Hydro-Québec.

Bloom Lake Mine gets US$180M loan – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – July 15, 2017)

July 17, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Sprott and big Quebec pension fund step in to restart iron ore mine closed in 2014

The cash keeps pouring in to Champion Iron (TSX:CIA) and its subsidiary, Quebec Iron Ore (QIO), which is planning on restarting the idled Bloom Lake Mine in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Earlier this month Montreal-based Champion announced that Sprott Resource Lending and la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec- a large pension fund – will provide debt financing for the project totalling USD$180 million.

The large loan follows the granting of a $40 million bridge financing back in May plus offtake agreement. The combination of $26 million in debt and $14 million in equity is being put towards upgrades at the mine and processing facilities.

U.S. company signs collective agreement to restart Wabush Mines – by Andrew Topf (Mining.com – June 13, 2017)

June 14, 2017

http://www.mining.com/

Miners at the closed-down Wabush Mines in Labrador could be back on the job thanks to the recent signing of a collective agreement with the union. Five hundred people were thrown out of work in 2014 when Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF) shut the gates on the operation in Western Labrador.

Last week however the United Steelworkers Union had good news to share, telling its members it signed a five-year collective agreement with Tacora Resources, an American company without a functioning website, for the Scully Mine operation.

Part of Wabush Mines, Scully Mine began operating in 1965, with iron concentrate railed to a pelletizing facility in Pointe Noire, Quebec, for shipment to Europe and throughout North America. Before it closed in 2014, a victim of low iron ore prices, Wabush Mines was Canada’s third largest iron ore operation, with an annual capacity of 6 million tonnes. The site since then has been tied up in regulatory proceedings.

Life in Labrador iron ore scene – by Daniel Gleeson (Mining Journal – March 1, 2017)

March 6, 2017

http://www.mining-journal.com/

The latest bulletin came from Alderon Iron Ore (CN:ADV), which published the results of a preliminary economic assessment on the Rose deposit, part of its 75%-owned Kami project, in western Labrador. This followed close on the heels of Champion Iron (CN:CIA) updating its own Bloom Lake project economics and Rio Tinto’s (LN:RIO) majority-owned Iron Ore Company of Canada announcing plans to push ahead with its C$79 million (US$59 million) Wabush 3 project.

There is an obvious reason all three of these companies have chosen now to come out with their news: the iron ore price. Hovering around a two-and-a-half year high – at just over US$90 per tonne – the 62% Fe price has confounded analyst expectations in the first two months of the year.

This has allowed all three companies to set out business plans at much higher prices than they would have done a year earlier when a tonne of ore was changing hands at a level closer to US$50. For Alderon, this is a real coup, allowing the company to announce what it calls a “reboot of the Kami project”.

IOC going ahead with Wabush 3 mine, construction to begin in spring – by Jacob Barker and Geoff Bartlett (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – February 23, 2017)

February 24, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

The Iron Ore Company of Canada says the long-awaited Wabush 3 mining project in Labrador West will be going ahead. The new pit comes with a $79-million investment and should increase the ore output by about five million tonnes per year.

Clayton Walker, chief executive officer and president, said it should also extend the life of the mine by 12 years. “We’re really excited about the announcement,” Walker said on Thursday afternoon.

The new pit will rely on much of the existing infrastructure but construction is expected to create about 70 jobs, according to Walker. The Wabush 3 extension was put on hold last May, with IOC citing poor production and sales performance over the previous year.

New CEO at IOC in Labrador City as company shuffles management – by Jacob Barker (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – January 09, 2017)

January 13, 2017

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

‘Organizational changes are an ongoing part of the business,’ a company spokesperson said

There’s been a shuffle in management at the Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City. That’s according to internal documents CBC has obtained laying out “organizational changes.”

The announcement is attributed to new IOC president and CEO Clayton Walker who said he was with the company for 60 days when it was sent out on January 6th. The company’s chief operating officer, Thierry Martel, also signed off on the document.

“We are going to learn from the past and build upon our success,” the document reads. “The first step will be changing the organizational structural to allow us to better engage with our employees and manage our assets.”

Brazil’s S11D iron-ore mine a reality check for Australian politicians – CME – by Esmarie Swanepoel (MiningWeekly.com – January 10, 2017)

January 11, 2017

http://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) has warned that the commercial start of the $19.7-billion Eliezer Batista S11D iron-ore mine, in Brazil, is a reality check for Australian politicians looking to use the sector as a “bottomless cash cow”.

CME CEO Reg Howard-Smith said on Tuesday that commercial operations at the world’s largest iron-ore mine were expected to start this month, with mining giant Vale taking advantage of Brazil’s lower-cost taxation and royalty regime.

The Brazilian major inaugurated the new iron-ore project in December, with the mine ramping up to 90-million tonnes a year by 2020. Once the ramp-up is completed, about 2 700 employees will be working directly at the plant and mine and, at least, 10 000 indirect jobs will have been created.

Idled Canadian iron ore mine charged with $30K fine over pollution – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – December 21, 2016)

December 22, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

Wabush Mines, an iron ore operation in Canada’s western Labrador that has been shut since 2014, will have to pay a Cdn$30,000 (about $22K) fine for polluting the environment, a Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court has ruled.

The verdict follows the company’s guilty plea last week to offences including failing to perform acute-lethality sampling of effluent and failing to notify an inspector following a deposit out of the normal course of events.

In practical terms, that means Wabush Mines didn’t test the mine’s surroundings to determine whether there was any amount of waste being released that could harm rainbow trout. The company also failed to let an inspector know there was an unusual amount of deposit. All this happened in May 2015.

Canada’s Quebec injects $130M into Tata Steel Quebec-Labrador iron ore project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 7, 2016)

November 8, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s province of Quebec just invested about $130 million (Cdn$175 million) in an iron ore project majority owned by Tata Steel Minerals Canada (TSMC), a subsidiary of Indian giant Tata Steel.

The deal aims to advance development of the Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) property, which straddles the border between Quebec and Labrador, with mineral deposits on both provinces.

The transaction, first announced in July, consisted of a loan of $50 million from Investissement Quebec along with $125 million for an 18% equity stake in TSMC through Ressources Quebec.

[Jules Timmins] The Shy Midas Behind Ungava – by McKenzie Porter (MACLEAN’S Magazine – February 1, 1952)

August 30, 2016

http://www.macleans.ca/

Jules Timmins was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he has since gold-plated it from the fabulous mining ventures he has led. Now he’s the dynamo that’s powering the vast Ungava iron development. Yet even in the town they named for his family, cops and bellboys don’t know his face

TOWARD the end of November last a chunky jut-jawed cigar-toting millionaire called Jules Timmins talked about gold in Noranda, northwestern Quebec, on Sunday; about iron in Montreal on Monday; about steel in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday; about copper in Toronto on Wednesday; about silver back in Montreal on Thursday; and about mining finance in New York on Friday.