Labrador Iron Trough – Page 3 – Republic of Mining

Supreme Court rejects Rio Tinto’s efforts to dismiss Innu class-action lawsuit – by Ross Marowits (Canadian Press/Vancouver Province – October 15, 2015)

October 15, 2015

http://www.theprovince.com/

MONTREAL – The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to end a class action lawsuit filed by two Innu communities against the Iron Ore Co. of Canada and the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway Co.

The country’s highest court dismissed with costs their appeal of a Quebec Court of Appeal ruling. No reasons were provided Thursday as is customary when the court makes such a decision.

The Innu First Nations of Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam (Uashaunnuat) and Matimekush-Lac John claim the IOC, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), has violated their rights for nearly 60 years and are seeking $900 million in compensation.

The Innu claim the mines and other facilities have ruined the environment, displaced members from their territory and prevented them from practising their traditional way of life.

They also say a 578-kilometre railway between Schefferville and Sept-Iles has opened up their territory to “numerous other destructive development projects.”

Moving forward [Iron Ore Company of Canada] – by Ty Dunham (St. John’s Telegram – September 16, 2015)

September 17, 2015

http://www.thetelegram.com/

IOC’s Wabush 3 project approved for development

The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) has received approval for the expansion of the Wabush 3 pit.

The Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City received the long awaited approval for the Wabush 3 open mining pit development. — Photo by Ty Dunham/The Aurora

The provincial government gave the green light to the environmental assessment last week, giving company the go-ahead on a critical project that will provide sustainability over the amount of ore that goes to the plant to meet the rate of production.

Marsha Power Slade, senior adviser for external relations and corporate affairs for IOC, said while IOC started focusing on the project 2 1/2 years ago, discussions on the expansion began five to seven years ago.

She added the additional pit would allow for greater ore flexibility due to its low strip ratio.

Wabush pensioners angry about prospect of reduced incomes – by Terry Roberts (CBC News Newfoundland – August 18, 2015)

August 19, 2015

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

Former mine workers fearful of a hit if Cliffs Natural Resources winds up Canadian operations

Retired workers at the now closed Wabush Mines in Labrador West say they are facing a cut in their pension incomes as their former employer, U.S-based Cliffs Natural Resources, goes through the bankruptcy protection process for its Canadian operations.

More than 100 former workers filed into the Catholic church in Wabush Monday for an information session with pension experts from the provincial government, which oversees the Pensions Benefits Act.

The closed-door meeting lasted nearly three hours into Monday evening, and was described as a tense, emotional affairs as retirees sought answers about the fate of their pensions.

Ron Barron, who worked 27 years at the mine prior to its closure in 2014, said there’s a growing level of frustration, and people want answers.

It’s a double-dose of uncertainty for Labrador’s iron ore industry – by Terry Roberts (CBC News Newfoundland – August 11, 2015)

August 12, 2015

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

Canadian analyst says IOC in danger of closing, while hope fades for Alderon’s Kami Project

here’s more unsettling news for the iron ore industry in Labrador West after a Canadian investment firm suggested IOC is in danger of closing, while hope continues to fade for Alderon’s much-hyped Kami Project.

A report by Raymond James Ltd., suggested that mining giant Rio Tinto, majority owner of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, is losing money at its Labrador City operation, which employs an estimated 2,000 workers.

“Iron ore prices continue to weaken and by our estimates are below the operating cost at the mine,” the firm wrote in an investment overview published in late April.

Analysts at Raymond James estimate IOC will receive an average price of US$62.50 per tonne this year while costs are estimated at $US68.50.

One analyst said the operation is a “drain” on Rio Tinto and “we believe there is a risk IOC may close if its costs and productivity do not improve.”

Canadian mining industry feeling the sting from China’s steel surplus – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – June 22, 2015)

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The steel industry is about to go from bad to worse. China, the world’s biggest consumer of steel, needs less metal. The Chinese housing market, responsible for using the bulk of steel, is bulging with empty properties.

As a result, the country, also the largest steel producer, is swimming in the metal and exporting more to get rid of it. “Things are getting worse and I don’t see any possibility of a rebound in under three years,” said Tim Murray, managing partner with investment adviser J Capital Research Ltd.

“What I have seen actually is a deepening of the crisis.” Although the country is aiming for economic growth of 7.5 per cent – a healthy clip that miners hope will help turn the commodities market around – there are alarming signs China is struggling with the overcapacity in its steel industry.

Last year, China’s steel exports jumped 50 per cent. The surge came in the same year that steel consumption eased 3 per cent, according to the World Steel Association.

NEWS RELEASE: Official opening of the Port of Saguenay rail link and intermodal rail yard – Vital rail link for the regional mining industry in Quebec

June 1, 2015

SAGUENAY, QC, May 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ – The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, on behalf of the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport, was joined today by Mr. Serge Simard, Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region and Member for Dubuc, on behalf of the Honourable Robert Poëti, Quebec Minister of Transport, Mr. Jean Tremblay, Mayor of the City of Saguenay, and Mr. Richard Létourneau, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saguenay Port Authority to mark the official opening of the rail link connecting the Grande-Anse terrminal in the Port of Saguenay to the Roberval-Saguenay rail line and of the intermodal rail yard at the Port of Saguenay.

The 12-kilometre rail link and the intermodal rail yard at the Port of Saguenay will facilitate the transfer of goods from the railway network to ships docking at the Grand-Anse marine terminal. Traffic will be bidirectional.The new rail link will provide shippers with additional transportation options, increase the efficiency and capacity of port operations, and facilitate interprovincial and international trade.

The Grande-Anse terminal in the Port of Saguenay benefits from its deep water location, its industrial development potential, and its geographic location near urban services in the heart of a region that has direct access to the regions of Northern Quebec and has a number of heavy industries, particularly in the aluminum manufacturing and forestry sectors.

New project adds some lustre to Quebec’s depressed iron market – by Robert Gibbens (Montreal Gazette – May 26, 2015)

May 27, 2015

http://montrealgazette.com/

Two iron mine closures in 2013 took a heavy toll on the Quebec-Labrador trough, but Tata Steel and partner New Millennium Iron Corp. are ramping up a new export project to hit annual capacity of 6 million tonnes next year.

The DSO (direct shipping ore) project, as it is known, is managed by Tata Steel, which also arranged the financing. It is mining high-grade iron ore (60 per cent average iron content), with the first 2 million tonnes being shipped to market directly and 4 million tonnes being upgraded in a new high-tech processing plant.

The products will move almost 600 kilometres by rail to Sept-Îles on the St. Lawrence north shore for loading into heavy ore carriers and delivery to Tata Steel furnaces in Europe and elsewhere.

The DSO Project, located well northwest of the two mothballed mines, has cost at least $560 million U.S. It has sufficient reserves for an active life of at least 15 years and will provide about 700 direct and indirect jobs. DSO has negotiated a benefits pact with the First Nations.

But Tata Steel, Europe’s second-biggest steelmaker and part of the giant Indian Tata Group conglomerate, is looking at something more ambitious: the Taconite project to develop several major iron deposits straddling the Quebec-Labrador border farther north near Schefferville.

Osisko wades into iron ore amid ‘perfect’ market for royalty companies – by Damon van der Linde (Financial Post – May 15, 2015)

May 15, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

MONTREAL – Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. says it has confidence in its recent acquisition of a stake in Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp., even if its shareholders don’t quite know what to make of the investment at a time when the metal’s price languishes near half its value of a year ago.

“We understand that there are cycles and ‘buy low, sell high’ is easy to say but hard to do,” said Osisko CEO Sean Roosen. “In this case and time, when everyone is running for cover, that’s when we want to wade in. I think we bought it right.”

Osisko announced Friday in its quarterly earnings release that it has amassed a 9.75 per cent interest in Labrador Iron Ore Royalty since the start of the year.

“The way we look at this, this gives us a relatively low-risk access to short-term dividend cash flow and that helps us with our numbers,” said Roosen.

Osisko is a mining royalty company, meaning it has agreements giving it the right to a share of income from mines operated by other companies.

NEWS RELEASE: Mining vs. Aboriginal Rights in Canada – Rio Tinto told to pay its rent to the Innu People

April 16, 2015

LONDON, UK, April 16, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ – Three First Nations chiefs, dressed in traditional garb and aware of the historic nature of their action, have come to London to address the shareholders of mining giant Rio Tinto directly during their annual general meeting in today, April 16, 2015. On the floor of the meeting, they asked Rio Tinto’s president and CEO, Sam Walsh, and its board of directors to intervene to end a longstanding conflict between the Innu Nation in Quebec, Canada, and mining company IOC, majority owned by Rio Tinto.

Inspired by Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning, a political song demanding the return to Australian aboriginals of ancestral lands stolen 200 years earlier by British colonists, the Innu chiefs informed Rio Tinto that “it’s time to pay the rent,” 60 years after exploitation of their territory began.

Supported by international law recognizing that indigenous peoples have rights—notably free, prior and informed consent—the Innu chiefs wanted to inform Rio Tinto shareholders that they can shed light on the negligence of IOC in Canada.

The Innu chiefs sought to inform Rio Tinto shareholders that there is specific legal precedent in Canada, where a recent Supreme Court ruling recognized the existence of First Nations ancestral title and stated that Aboriginal peoples holding this title, including the Innu of Quebec, “have the right to the benefits associated with the land—to use it, enjoy it and profit from its economic development” (excerpt from the ruling).

Labrador West dealt another blow as IOC announces 150 layoffs (CBC News Newfoundland – April 09, 2015)

April 10, 2015

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

Labrador West has been dealt another significant economic blow, with 150 layoff notices going out Thursday to unionized workers with the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

The workers are members of Local 5795 of the United Steelworkers, which represents some 1,400 people at the operation, said president Ron Thomas.

The layoffs come amid a significant drop in commodity prices, and many were expecting cost-cutting measures from the mining giant. IOC is majority owned by Rio Tinto, and employs roughly 2,500 people in Labrador West and Sept-Îles, Que. Labrador City Mayor Karen Oldford said it was a “sad day” for the community, but the number was roughly what the town expected if there were going to be layoffs.

“All we can do is try to work with the families that are going to be affected and hope that the commodity prices will turn around quickly, just as quickly as they went down, in order to try to get people back to work,” she said.

Earlier efforts by the company to cut costs at Labrador City failed, with the union overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed wage freeze in February. There was also very little participation in early retirement incentives.

Commentary: Tough markets demand a rethink of rail in Labrador Trough – by Glen Ireland and Mark Apli (Northern Miner – February 13, 2015)

February 17, 2015

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

During its successful 2014 election campaign, Quebec’s Liberal Party vowed to revive Plan Nord — a cherished blueprint for opening up the province’s vast northern mineral wealth for development. Brainchild of former Liberal Premier Jean Charest, the plan was shelved for two years after his defeat to the Parti Québécois in 2012.

The mining industry has recently given its strong support for Premier Philippe Couillard’s refreshed Plan Nord, which includes an ambitious, greenfield 400+ km multi-user railway corridor and port connecting stranded mineral deposits in the legendary Labrador Trough to Sept-Îles on the coast. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Pierre Arcand, Plan Nord’s helmsman, announced in October 2014 a major technical study of the project by Montreal-based Canarail, whose fees will be paid by Quebec taxpayers and supportive junior miners.

While “Plan Nord redux” now appears to be back on track, some awkward but important questions are being asked: Can an infrastructure mega-project in the Labrador Trough be justified at current, heavily-depressed iron ore prices? And, is a new railway corridor really the only viable logistics solution for planned iron ore mines?

Soon after Premier Couillard’s government took office, a flood of iron ore from newly-expanded mines in Australia’s Pilbara, combined with perceived weakness in core demand markets, drove prices from US$130 per tonne to US$70 per tonne — a five year low.

House prices dive, food bank use is up as latest mining bust hits Labrador town – by Sue Bailey (Canadian Press/Brandon Sun – February 4, 2015)

February 4, 2015

http://www.brandonsun.com/

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Jason Penney knows the highs and lows of a miner’s life in Wabush, N.L., a one-industry town where the price of iron ore is discussed like the weather. But he says the community of 1,900 has reeled since its main employer shut down last year.

“We’ve never seen it quite this bad,” the president of United Steelworkers Local 6285 said from the office he now occupies alone. An administrative assistant and a safety officer were both let go along with about 500 other workers who lost their jobs when the Wabush iron ore mine closed.

Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. blamed high production costs and nose-diving commodity prices as demand from prime steel buyers, such as China, waned. The company also confirmed last month that it had stopped production at its Bloom Lake mine in Quebec, about a half-hour drive from Wabush.

Penney said the move affects another 500 workers who flew in and out. For Wabush and nearby Labrador City, which bills itself as the iron ore capital of Canada, it means a loss of crucial spinoff and service jobs.

It’s all adding up to one of the most resounding busts ever for the region, Penney said. “There’s been a lot of people in sad, tough times. It was a rough Christmas on a lot of families.

NEWS RELEASE: New court victory for the Innu against Rio Tinto (IOC): Quebec Court of Appeal authorizes $900M lawsuit

January 7, 2015

New court victory for the Innu against Rio Tinto (IOC): Quebec Court of Appeal authorizes $900M lawsuit

UASHAT MAK MANI-UTENAM, QC, Jan. 7, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ – The Innu First Nations of Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam and Matimekush-Lac John, whose traditional territory (Nitassinan) covers a large part of North-eastern Quebec and Labrador, celebrated on January 6, 2015 a new legal victory in their 900 million dollar lawsuit targeting the Iron Ore Company of Canada (majority owned as well as operated by the mining giant Rio Tinto).

Rio Tinto (IOC) was seeking to have the case dismissed before trial by arguing that the Innu should have sued the government rather than the company. On September 19, 2014, the Rio Tinto (IOC) motion to dismiss the lawsuit was rejected at first instance by the Quebec Superior Court and the Court of Appeal has now refused to hear an appeal of the judgment by Rio Tinto (IOC).

“Rio Tinto and its subsidiary IOC continue to try to ignore us, just as they always have. IOC’s president even refuses to meet with us personally. But after this judgement, Rio Tinto (IOC) will no longer be able to hide. The highest Court in Quebec has made clear that Rio Tinto’s subsidiary IOC will have to answer in Court for its violations of our constitutionally protected rights, which violations date back to the 1950s”, declared the Chief of Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam, Mike McKenzie.

Despite their 900 million dollar lawsuit and the injunction they are seeking to put an end to the “IOC megaproject”, the Innu have tried time and again to achieve an honourable outcome with Rio Tinto by way of negotiation.

NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Concludes the Sale of Logan County Coal and Provides Update on Bloom Lake

January 6, 2015

CLEVELAND, Jan. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale of its Logan County Coal assets in West Virginia to Coronado Coal II LLC, an affiliate of Coronado Coal LLC, for $174 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. The expected tax benefit associated with the transaction will be between 20% to 25% of the previously disclosed pre-tax loss of approximately $400 million, which represents an additional benefit of $80 million to $100 million in future cash tax savings. Cliffs will record the results of this sale in its fourth quarter earnings.

Separately, Cliffs confirms that active production at Bloom Lake has completely ceased and the exit from Eastern Canada continued to be executed on schedule as previously announced. The mine has transitioned to care and maintenance status and, consequently, at this time only a small number of employees involved in such activities are still in the payroll. The last shipment of iron ore out of the Port of Sept-Iles will be completed in early January 2015.

Lourenco Goncalves , Cliffs’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, “The execution of the strategic initiatives outlined during our Q3 Conference Call in October 2014 continued to progress as planned during the last two months. The sale of Logan County Coal, which included a meaningful tax benefit to the Company, clearly demonstrates our ability to execute complex transactions despite an adverse M&A environment for commodity related transactions. Additionally, as we approach the final steps of our exit from Eastern Canada, we have brought to an end the flawed expansion that has cost Cliffs and its shareholders billions of dollars.”

Quebec’s Plan Nord Exposes The Seedy Side Of A Resource Boom – by Catherine Lévesque (Huffington Post Quebec – December 2, 2014)

December 3, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/business/

SEPT-ÎLES, Que. — For some, it’s a way to make some fast cash. For others, it’s a chance to latch on to an engineer for maybe more than one night.

The “world’s oldest profession” has always found a niche in proximity to large-scale projects that require thousands of workers — where men are alone, isolated from their families and earning a big salary. It’s no different along Quebec’s North Shore, with the advent of Plan Nord, a provincially funded strategy to develop natural resources in northern Quebec, mostly in the mining and energy sectors. Launched in 2011 by former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, it’s targeted at getting major corporations to invest big bucks in an area three times the size of France.

And prostitutes are hoping to take advantage of a resource boom, using classified ads and dating sites to offer their services.

One online ad is from a woman we’ll call “Claudie.” Looking to attract North Shore guys, her piercing eyes promise them seventh heaven. Oral sex is $40 and sex is $100 an hour, and she will provide a receipt if the client chooses to get a massage.

Claudie, who leaves Saguenay by car, will pick up a client on the way near highway 138. Those who want to can meet her at the destination, a motel in Baie-Comeau. She likes her work and told The Huffington Post Québec that it was a job like any other.