Conference program

November 23, 2011
Session 4
2:00 p.m.

The iron ranges of Western Labrador: New developments and future potential
Andrew Kerr, John Clarke and Phillip Saunders (Department of Natural Resources, Newfoundland)

Newfoundland and Labrador have been major producers of iron ore for over a century, first from the Bell Island deposits near St. John’s, and for the last 55 years from the iron ranges of western Labrador. In conjunction with adjacent Québec, this area is one of the world’s great iron ore districts, accounting for at least half of Canada’s total production, and containing vast resources for future economic development.

Iron ore is hosted within sedimentary rocks of the Paleoproterozoic New Québec Orogen (also known as the Labrador Trough) and their metamorphic equivalents in the parautochthon of the Grenville Province. Deposits fall into three main groups, namely:

• “taconites” (primary sedimentary ores);
• supergene-enriched (direct-shipping) hematite ores
• metamorphic magnetite–hematite ores derived from taconite protoliths.

Only the latter two deposit types have seen commercial production, in the Schefferville and Labrador City–Wabush areas, respectively. Two major undeveloped deposits in the Labrador City area are the subjects of advanced exploration programs. The Julienne Lake deposit, originally discovered in the 1950s, is an exempt mineral land (EML) under evaluation by the Department of Natural Resources; historical estimates suggest that it contains > 500 Mt at ~35% Fe. The Alderon Resources Kamistiatusset (Kami) Project is evaluating substantial deposits of similar aspect, and now estimates a total resource exceeding 1 billion tonnes at ~30% Fe. Significant undeveloped resources also remain within the Iron Ore Company of Canada mining leases. The largest single iron ore resource in western Labrador remains in the primary taconite deposits near Schefferville, where resource estimates suggest as much as 5 billion tonnes at 29% Fe; these deposits extend into Québec, where a smaller (but still immense) resource is inferred.

From a regional perspective, prospective sedimentary rocks of the Kaniapiskau Supergroup occur widely in the more remote parts of western Labrador, and these areas are now seeing early-stage evaluation. Although exploration activity has grown rapidly since the dawn of the new millennium, it remains concentrated in areas of existing infrastructure, and the hinterland awaits systematic evaluation. There has also been recent interest in iron deposits known elsewhere in Labrador, including those in Archean rocks along the north coast.