The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) is the largest producer of iron ore in Canada, and a leading global supplier of iron ore pellets and concentrates. IOC has its head office in Montreal, Quebec.

IOC operates an open pit mine, concentrator and pellet plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, and transports its products along a 418 kilometre railway to its port facilities in Sept-Îles, Quebec on the St Lawrence Seaway. IOC has large quantities of ore reserves with low levels of contaminants.

IOC began extracting ore at its mine site in Schefferville, Quebec, in 1954. The current mine and process facilities, known as the Carol Project, began in 1962, and still has a significant resource base available.

The annual capacity at the Carol Concentrator is 17 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate, of which 13 million tonnes is pelletised and the balance is processed into various grades of concentrate products.

After processing at the Labrador City facilities, the pellets and concentrate are transported south via the Quebec North Shore and Labrador (QNS&L) railway to the company's shipping terminal and deepwater port in Sept-Îles, Quebec.

The port at Sept-Îles handles ore carriers up to 255,000 tonnes, providing competitive access to all seaborne pellet markets and to the North American Great Lakes region. IOC exports its concentrate and pellet products to major North American, European and Asian steel makers.

For an overview of the mining process used at the IOC, please view the process diagram in English or French.

Key data

Mine operations

Carol concentrator

Pellet plant

Rail

Port