Steel Products Prices North America

Iron Ore Co. of Canada Declares Force Majeure

Written by Michael Cowden

April 5, 2021

Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) has declared force majeure on its contracts after a fire at its port facilities in Sept-Îles, Quebec.

The blaze broke out on the No. 2 reclaimer on March 31, and the cause of the fire “remains unknown at this time,” the Canadian iron ore miner and pellet producer said.

ship ironore

“An investigation process is ongoing, and IOC is still assessing the impact on its operation. IOC has declared force majeure on its contracts and is working with customers to minimize disruption,” the company said in a press release Saturday, April 3.

IOC makes and exports iron ore pellets and high-grade concentrate with iron content of more than 66%, according to its website.

The company’s operations include a mine, a concentrator and a pelletizing plant near Labrador City in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

IOC also owns port operations in Sept-Îles.

The company has annual capacity of 23.0 million metric tonnes of high-grade concentrate fines, and it can process that material into up to 12.5 million tonnes per year of value-added pellets.

IOC is a joint venture between Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tino (58.7%), Japanese trading company Mitsubishi (26.2%), and Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Corp. (15.1%).

A Rio Tinto spokesman declined to to say whether customers in North America or elsewhere might be most impacted by IOC’s force majeure declaration.

“We ship to customers worldwide, so no impact on a particular geography as far as I know,” he said.

By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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