Iron Ore Company announces $500M expansion

The Iron Ore Company of Canada announced the details Tuesday of a $500-million expansion plan for its operations in Labrador West.

IOC had been talking about its expansion plans for months, but company officials made an official announcement at simultaneous press conferences in St. John's, Labrador City and Sept-Iles, Que.

The expansion will boost production from 17 million tonnes of iron ore a year to 22 million tonnes, with further increase to 25 million tonnes by 2011. The plans include new equipment at the open pit mine, the processing mill and the railway yard.

The expansion will add 200 permanent jobs, and another 250 workers at the peak of construction.

Terry Bowles, president of the company, the largest employer in western Labrador,
said the expansion is the right thing to do, despite a downturn in the U.S. economy.

"Nobody can foretell the future at 100 per cent. I'm not going to tell you that, but it certainly looks quitepromising," he said.

Labrador West MHA Jim Baker called Tuesday a great day, but worried that the expansion will make a tight housing market even tighter.

"As you are all aware, there is a zero vacancy rate anywhere now in Labrador City. We're almost a mini-Fort McMurray," he said.

Baker said a number of developers are planning to start building new houses this summer.