Despite creditor protection, Tacora CEO says future is bright for Wabush mine

As one of Labrador West'slargest employers remains under creditor protection, the company's CEO says he's ready to face it head on.

Speaking Tuesday in Wabush at the Future of Labrador West Summit an economic development forum with mining as one focus Tacorapresident Joe Brokingsaid he remains optimistic for the future.

"Not a lot of people in my shoes would want to talk about [it], but I'm not afraid of it at all. It has been a challenge, but it also creates an opportunity," Brokingsaid.

"When we think about both the current status of the operation as well as where we want to get in the future, our focus from a TacoraResources perspective is going to be on the Scullymine taking advantage of its existing potentialbut also taking advantage of the future and all of the growth opportunities."

Tacora, which owns the Scully Mine and employs 280 unionized workers in Wabush, obtained creditor protection from Ontario's Superior Court in October. The company cited a volatile market, raging forest fires and unexpected maintenance at the mine as contributing factors that led to a dire year financially.

On Feb. 2, the company announced that a new group of companies, made up of private equity firm Resource Capital Fund VII LP and traders Javelin Global Commodities, had made a winning bid to invest in the mine.

Soon after it was announced, Tacora-co-owner Cargill said it planned to oppose the deal, citing "serious concerns about the sale process." Cargill also made a bid for the mine, but Tacora has stated the bid didn't meet their standards.

Tacora, based in Minnesota, hasoperated the mine since 2019. The iron-ore minereceived federal funding in January 2023 to help process manganese, a critical mineral used in the development of electric car batteries.

Broking didn't comment on the creditor protection itself, as it is before the courts.

A hearing is scheduledfrom April 10-12. Broking said he expects a final decision about a week after the hearing, and expects the winning bid to close around May.

"We expect that Justice [Jessica]Kimmel will do her part and come to the conclusion that we expect her to come to so that we can move the business forward."

Broking said there arestill investments that could be coming down the pipeline, including a potential $300-million USinjection to improve the mine's beneficiary plan.

"We want to make sure that coming out of this, we have the milling capacity with state of the art systems. So that will build in the redundancy and the effective utilization that ensures we will produce every single year, on a sustainable basis, in excess of six million tonnes of Tacora premium concentrate," he said.

"Once we do that, that will allow us to be sustainable in any iron ore market."

Broking praised the collaboration with community stakeholders he hopes will continue after the summit, saying he believes the mine and the region have a bright future.

"This should be the region of the world that grows, because we do things in the right way with our partners," he said. "That's why I'm so confident and bullish about Tacora, and absolutely why I'm so confident and bullish about Labrador West."

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