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.

Phase 2 mine plan does not require any pre-stripping other than the stripping already forecasted in
the current mine plan. Equipment will need to be commissioned prior to the mill start-up, and some additional drilled inventory should be built up prior to the start of the Phase 2 concentrator.

The near pit primary crusher (Crusher 2) and overland conveyor built during the Bloom Lake Phase 2 (Cliffs) project have been in operation for Phase 1 (QIO) since its start-up in the beginning of 2018. Crusher 2 and the overland conveyor will be used to provide most of the feed to both Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrators. The Phase 1 (Cliffs) primary crusher (Crusher 1) will also be operated and provides approximately 27% of the combined feed to Phase 1 and Phase 2 mills. Crusher 1 discharge system will be modified to be able to feed both the Phases 1 and 2 (QIO) concentrators.

Ore from the mine is delivered by 240-tonne trucks to Crusher 1 and Crusher 2, both equipped with two dump points. A hydraulic hammer (rock breaker) is installed adjacent to each crusher to manipulate lumps in the feed pocket and to break the larger ore lumps so they can enter the crusher. The hydraulic hammer is operated from the crusher operator’s room.

Crushed ore from Crusher 2 (<250 mm) falls on a surge conveyor that transports it to the crushed ore buffer stockpile, enclosed in a dome. Ore is withdrawn from the buffer stockpile by an apron feeder to a sacrificial conveyor and is then transferred on the overland crushed ore conveyor. Crushed ore from Crusher 1 is fed to a surge bin where it is reclaimed via a conveyor system and is transported to the common crushed ore stockpile area.

The overland conveyor transports the crushed ore over a distance of 3.45 km before discharging in the crushed ore stockpile. The overland conveyor consists of a 1.6 m wide by 3.45 km long belt conveyor running at 4.6 m/s. The conveyor is used for transferring the crushed ore from the Phase 2 primary crushing location to the A-frame crushed ore stockpile. Its original design capacity of 6,000 tph is sufficient for the operation of Phases 1 and 2 with the average throughput considered of 2,500 tph and 2,650 tph respectively.

There are three apron feeders installed to withdraw the crushed ore from the stockpile to feed the Phase 2 (QIO) concentrator mill feed conveyor. The apron feeders’ configuration makes it easier to withdraw material from the centre or the extremities of the crushed ore stockpile, improving the consistency of the particle size distribution of the AG mill feed. Each apron feeder is equipped with a dust collector to minimize dust emission. Steel rods are inserted through the collar of each apron feeder to shut off the feed when maintenance is being carried out. The mill feed tonnage is controlled by varying the apron feeder speed with a signal from the belt scale. A metal detector is installed on the mill feed conveyor to stop the conveyor when metal pieces are detected in order to protect the conveyor and mill liners. Another separate dedicated set of apron feeders currently reclaims the feed to Phase 1. The existing stockpile feeding system will be modified to allow crushed ore from Crusher 1 and Crusher 2 to be placed over either Phases apron feeders. This will allow for material from either crusher to be used as feed for both Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Crushed ore from the stockpile is fed to an AG mill by means of the mill feed conveyor. Ground ore is discharged from the mill as a slurry to feed two scalping screens. The screens oversize (ore greater than 5 mm) is conveyed back to the mill and the undersize of each scalping screen discharges into its own pump box from where it is pumped to the classification screens’ feed distributors. There are three distributors installed, two 6-way and one 12-way fitted with two equal distribution chambers.

From the classification stage, the plant is divided into two production lines, named North and South. For each production line, the classification stage is composed of ten static screens followed by ten vibrating classification screens. The distributor system is designed to ensure that both production lines in Phase 2 are fed with a homogeneous mill discharge. Classification screen oversize is conveyed back to the AG mill while static screens and classification screens undersize is collected in a pump box (one for each production line) to be pumped to the gravity concentration circuit.

QIO will use the existing Phase 2 (Cliffs) 36’ by 19’-9” AG mill, which is the same size as the Phase 1 (QIO) AG mill. The nominal feed tonnage of the Phase 2 mill has been set to 2,650 tph.

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 2 separation circuit developed is a multi-stage circuit comprised of spirals (rougher, cleaner, scavenger and middlings (mids) stages), UCCs, LIMS and WHIMS, designed to remove gangue material, mostly silica, from hematite and magnetite to achieve the desired 82.5% iron recovery, with a key difference being the inclusion of up-current classifiers in the sca ........