Bloom Lake property mineralization style is a deposit typical of the Superior-Lake type.

The Bloom Lake deposits are about 24 km southwest of Labrador City and about 8 km north of the Mount Wright range. The western 6 km of this range contains very large reserves of specular hematite-magnetite iron-formation in a synclinal structure that is regarded as a southwest extension of the Wabush Lake ranges.

The iron-formation and quartzite are conformable within a metasedimentary series of biotitemuscovite-quartz-feldspar-hornblende- garnet-epidote schists and gneisses in a broad synclinal structure. This succession, following the first stage of folding and faulting, was intruded by gabbroic sills which were later metamorphosed and transformed into amphibolite gneiss with foliation parallel with that in adjacent metasediments. Two separate iron-formation units are present; these join northwest of Bloom Lake, but are separated by several dozen meters of gneiss and schist in the southern part of the structure. Quartzite, present below the upper member throughout the eastern part of the area, pinches out near the western end. Folded segments and inclusions of ironformation in the central part of the syncline that are surrounded by amphibolite, are in most cases thought to be part of an overlying sheet that was thrust over the main syncline during the first period of deformation. The large amphibolite mass in the central part of the area was apparently emplaced along the zone of weakness created by this early thrust fault.

Iron-formation in the western 5 to 6 kilometers of the structure is predominantly of the magnetitehematite-quartz facies that forms the major zones of potential ore. Hematite is distributed in two ways through the quartzite. The hematite is of the specularite type and has a silvery-grey colour and is non-magnetic. It is most often occurring as anastomosing to discontinuous stringers and bands less than 10 cm thick in a quartz or actinolite-quartz matrix. Bands tend to be folded and deformed but also can be regular and tabular. Quartz is milky and granular.

Magnetite typically occurs in narrow millimetric veinlets associated with quartz-carbonate veining material. The crystals are sub- to euhedral and demonstrate the typical dull to sub-metallic luster. When associated to hematite-enriched mineralization, the magnetite occurs as blebs of porous grains, often granoblastic, that may extend up to several centimetres. Enriched magnetite horizons are mostly found, but not always, in the upper portion of the iron formations in close contact with the amphibolite mass.

With the actual state of geological knowledge in the western sector of the Bloom Lake deposit, magnetite-rich IF are less important in volume than in the eastern half of the Bloom Lake pit area. The thickness of drillhole intercepts is lower than 10 vertical metres. Many drill holes did not return significant magnetite intersections. Very few actinolite or grunerite minerals associated with magnetite mineralization were described in the western holes.

A fairly abrupt change in facies takes place along strike east of a line passing northwest across Bloom Lake, east of which the grunerite-Ca-pyroxene-actinolite-magnetite-carbonate facies predominates. The oxide facies to the west is uniform.

The lower unit is less than 30 meters thick in some places and is considerably thinner than the upper unit. The iron content ranges from 32 to 34 per cent in this facies. In places the silicatecarbonate facies to the east contains more than 50 per cent cummingtonite, which in part is magnesium rich, and the manganese content ranges from 0.1 to more than 2.0 per cent. Mueller (1960) has studied the complex assemblage of minerals in this rock and has discussed chemical reactions during metamorphism in considerable detail. He has shown that a close approach to chemical equilibrium in the amphibolite metamorphic facies is indicated by the orderly distribution of Mg, Fe, and Mn among coexisting actinolite, Ca-pyroxene, and cummingtonite, and the restriction in the number and type of minerals in association with each other. Furthermore, a comparison between the composition of the silicates and the presence or absence of hematite shows that the Mg to Mg plus Fe ratio is increased, but is much less variable when hematite is present.

The operation consists of a conventional surface mining method using an owner mining approach with electric hydraulic shovels, wheel loaders and mine trucks. The study consists of resizing the open pit and producing a 20-year life of mine (LOM) plan to feed two plants at a nominal rate of 41.9 Mtpy.

The Project has two main mining areas, the Chief’s Peak and West pits. The Chief’s Peak pit is 2,500 m long by 1,850 m wide at the east end. The starting phase of Chief’s Peak pit is located on the western end. The West pit is 1,890 m long by 950 m wide; it has a narrow southern limb that is 1,300 m long by 200 m wide.

The Chief’s Peak pit has one ramp exit to the north and one ramp exit to the south. Until the first two phases of the Chief’s Peak pit are complete, there will be an additional ramp exit to the north, close to Crusher 1. The southern ramp will also access to the new waste storage facility as well as alternate access for preliminary stripping activities. The West pit has one ramp exit on the northeast wall, one on the east wall, and one in the southern limb.

Ore from the mine will be delivered by 240-tonne trucks to the phase II near pit gyratory crusher which has two loading points. A hydraulic hammer (rock breaker) has been installed adjacent to the crusher to manipulate lumps in the feed pocket and to break up lumps too large to enter the crusher. The rock breaker will be operated from a control station in the crusher’s operator’s room.

Ore crushed to less than 200 mm by the primary crusher will be fed by a belt feeder with a design capacity of 6 600 tonnes per hour onto a local 5 800 t stockpile which will be covered by a dome to contain the dust.

The Phase II crusher and overland conveyor have been designed to provide a sufficient quantity of feed to the plant. Should there be any unexpected failures in this system, the phase I crusher is redundant, and can be put back into service by hauling the run-of-mine ore from the mine to the crusher located at the plant.

To control the dust inside the A-frame storage building, additional metal siding, supported by structural steel at the end of the joists, will be installed. This structure will be installed on only half of the length on one side of the A-frame building. Additional metal siding, complete with structural steel, will be installed at one end of the building from the existing wall to the bottom of the columns. A pile of crushed ore will be placed between the joists and the ground on one side and between the new metal siding and the ground at the end of the building.

Quebec Iron Ore (QIO) intends to start-up Phase 2 (QIO) to expand the Bloom Lake concentrator (Phase 1 (QIO)) and double its yearly production to 15 Mtpy of concentrate from the ore mined from the following pits: Pignac, West and Chief’s Peak.

The Phase 2 (Cliffs) facility currently exists; however this phase has never been in operation as construction was halted before completion in 2012. Phase 2 (Cliffs) crushing and storage facilities were started-up along with the Phase 1 (QIO) concentrator in the beginning of 2018. Phase 2 (Cliffs) spirals and other equipment were utilized in the Phase 1 (QIO) concentrator.

The Phase 1 flowsheet developed for the start-up by QIO, referred to as Phase 1 (QIO), was based on the initial Phase 2 flowsheet, referred to as Phase 2 (Cliffs), as well as testing and piloting results realized in partnership with Mineral Technologies. The suggested flowsheet for the Phase 2 restart, referred to as Phase 2 (QIO), incorporates further imp ........