Carol Lake

“Explosive” is one of the best ways to describe the activities around Rio Tinto’s IOC Carol Lake operation in Labrador as the project continues to make noise around the world with its record production of iron ore.

Not only is Carol Lake the largest iron ore mine in the famed “Labrador Trough,” (source of more than 2 billion tonnes of iron ore since the 1950s) but it’s also Canada’s largest iron ore mine, currently producing about 17 million tonnes of concentrate annually.

With help from about 2500 people in Labrador, Newfoundland and Quebec, Carol Lake alone has produced in excess of 1.3 billion tonnes of iron ore, which accounts for approximately half of Canada’s total iron ore output of pellets and concentrates.

The name “Iron Lady” comes to mind when talking about Carol Lake and so it should because IOC intends to continue the work on its staged expansion at the site to bring the operation’s annual concentrate and pellet-feed production to 26 million tonnes annually.

Phases 1 and 2 will be completed in Q1 2013 bringing production to 22 million tonnes. Market conditions are being closely watched and will ultimately determine the timetable for Phase 3 and beyond.

Producing and processing that amount of ore is one thing, but getting it to market is another and the company has that aspect of the mining process under control too thanks to its 418 km railway line that links the mine to its port facilities at Sept-Îles.

From there, customers across Canada and around the world will receive a truly Made in Canada product, but more importantly to the miners in Labrador, it is a “Made in Carol Lake” product that makes them proudest.