Overview

Deposit type

• Banded iron formation

Summary:

The Mont-Wright, Fire Lake and Mont-Reed deposits are all Lake Superior–type banded iron formations, the metamorphic equivalent to other iron formations within the Labrador Trough iron district. While Mont-Wright and Fire Lake are hematite-rich deposits, Mont-Reed has a greater ratio of magnetite.

The Mont-Wright and Fire Lake mines are part of the highly-folded and metamorphosed southwestern branch of the Labrador Trough. The most important rock type in the area is the specular hematite iron formation forming wide, massive deposits that often form the crest of high ridges extending for many kilometers in the Quebec Labrador area.

The Labrador Trough consists of Paleoproterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks that extends for more than 1100 km, from the northwest corner of Ungava Bay south to Lake Pletpi. It forms the western part of a larger orogenic belt called the New Québec Orogen¸ which records the oblique convergence and collision of the Archean Superior Craton to the west and an Archean core zone to the east. The Labrador Trough largely represents a foreland basin and comprises three sedimentary cycles, which are together referred to as the Kaniapiskau Supergroup.

Mining Methods

• Truck & Shovel / Loader

Summary:

Fire Lake is surface pit producing mine, with the mining operations carried out in conventional large-scale open pit employing industry standard technology and equipment to mine ore with grades averaging approximately 29% Fe.

Fire Lake is an extraction mining site without a crusher or concentrator. Mining activities are carried out as at Mont-Wright but the mining equipment is smaller in size.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

• Gravity separation
• Centrifugal concentrator
• Spiral concentrator / separator
• Crush & Screen plant
• Sintering
• Rotary kiln & Electric furnace

Summary:

All mined ore from Mont-Wright and Fire Lake is processed at the Mont-Wright processing plant, with material from Fire Lake transported by train. The ore is fed through the crusher and concentrated using a gravity separation method. The resulting concentrate is shipped to Port-Cartier, Québec, Canada, via a private railroad for pelletizing and port operations. The main products sold are concentrate and various types of pellets.

Fire Lake functions solely as an extraction mining site without a crusher or concentrator.

The concentrator at Mont-Wright consists of eight silos that continuously receive crushed raw material. The ore blocks in the silos are transferred to one of seven autogenous grinders, where they break down by colliding with each other. After grinding, the particles are sieved by vibration; oversized particles return for further grinding, while the correctly sized ones proceed to spiral circuits for concentration.

The facility uses 8,500 spirals to increase the iron content through a centrifugal force principle. Water is added to separate the heavier iron particles from the lighter tailings (mainly silica, or sand). The resulting concentrate, with an iron content exceeding 66%, is sent to a containment area for storage before transport. Once dewatered, the Mont-Wright concentrate is loaded onto trains and transported to Port-Cartier in four to five convoys daily.

At Port-Cartier, the pelleting process follows several key steps:
- Concentrate enrichment;
- Crushing;
- Filtration;
- Additive integration and mixing;
- Sintering;
- Sieving;
- Baking.

The plant includes enrichment facilities to reduce silica content if needed, depending on customer requirements. After enrichment, the concentrate is ground with water and additives in one of six ball mills, where the hard alloy balls further reduce the material to dust-like particles.

The resulting slurry is partially dried using 10 vertical filters, producing a substance called filter cake. This filter cake is then mixed with additional additives in one of three mixers. The mixture is shaped into pellets using 10 sintering disks, where centrifugal force and rotational movement form them.

Pellets are then sieved to ensure proper sizing. Oversized or undersized pellets are recycled back to the sintering disks, while correctly sized ones proceed to the final stage—hardening. The "green" pellets, still brittle, are baked in one of two large furnaces at 1300 degrees Celsius to achieve the necessary hardness.

Production

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
Procurement Director	Daniele Rocha Reis		Mar 17, 2025
Project Director	Bart Jan Baltus		Mar 17, 2025
Technical Services Manager	Jennifer Blain		Mar 14, 2025