The Quebec
North Shore and Labrador Railway
For whitewater canoeists and sports
fishers, one of the Moisie River’s
main attractions is its isolation.
But paddlers and anglers will be jolted
into the modern world whenever a Quebec
North Shore & Labrador train crosses
the river in its lower stretches,
heading north from the port of Sept-Îles
on the St. Lawrence River to the mining
centres of Labrador City, Newfoundland.
Some canoeists may already be familiar
with the route, having taken the train
to a put-in point near the Moisie’s
northern headwaters.
The QNS& L, with a main line of
573 kilometres from Sept-Îles
to Shefferville, Quebec, and a 58
kilometre spur line from Ross Bay
Junction to Labrador City, is a short
line built and operated by the Iron
Ore Company of Canada. The railway
was inaugurated in 1954, after 3 years
of construction that required one
of the largest civilian airlifts in
history. The spur line from Ross Bay
Junction to Labrador City was opened
in 1960.
Most of the freight carried by the
QSN & L is iron ore. Each train
consists of 169-240 cars, hauling
up to 20,000 tonnes of ore. It takes
about 42 hours to make the 414 kilometre
round trip between Labrador City and
Sept-Îles.
QSN & L Passenger Service:
The QSN & L also transports passengers,
vehicles and miscellaneous supplies.
Passenger service is subsidized by
the Canadian federal government. The
trip from Sept-Îles, Quebec
to Labrador City takes just over 8
hours. Although mining operations
in the town of Schefferville have
been abandoned, the train connection
continues to serve the area.
Port
of Sept-Îles
Second only to Vancouver,
British Columbia in overall
yearly tonnage, the year-round
deep water port of Sept-Îles,
Quebec (population, 25,000)
is the largest iron-ore
port in Canada. In 1999,
the port handled almost
21,000,000 metric tonnes
of cargo, with the iron
ore industry providing approximately
90% of the total. Remaining
tonnage is derived from
the aluminum industry. The
port consists of a large
natural basin with a water
depth of more than 80 metres.
Its services include port
terminals, a public wharf,
bunkers and fuel, crane
maintenance and repair,
oil spill response and recovery,
ship repair and towing and
tug services. |
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Iron
Ore Capital of Canada
In 1945, exploration companies confirmed
that the 1895 reports of Canadian
Geological Surveyor A.P. Low had been
correct: huge areas of iron formations
existed in the Labrador Trough of
northeastern Quebec and western Labrador.
In 1949, the newly-formed Iron Ore
Company of Canada began construction
of the vast interior network that
would link mining and processing operations
in Schefferville, Wabush and Labrador
City with the St. Lawrence River port
of Sept-Îles by means of the
Quebec North Shore & Labrador
Railway.
By 1955, the Iron Ore Company of Canada
had become Canada’s largest
iron ore producer, and the small town
of Sept-Îles was on its way
to becoming the country’s largest
iron ore port. Through the 1960’s,
the town of Labrador City took shape,
and in 1996, the Iron Ore Company
of Canada reached the production milestone
of 1 billion tons of crude iron ore
mined at that location.
The company now maintains mining,
beneficiation (concentrating and pelletizing)
and shipping operations in Labrador
City and Sept-Îles. Computer
modeling to design open pits and schedule
movements of materials, GPS systems
to monitor trucks and shovels, and
fully automatic, driverless electric
trains carrying blasted ore to crushing
operations are all part of a highly
technical and mechanized mining operation.
The iron ore industry continues to
be subject to market volatility. Operations
at Schefferville, Quebec were closed
in 1982. Today, the Canadian iron
ore industry remains concentrated
in the Labrador Trough, with nearly
all of the country’s production
coming from 3 mining operations owned
by the Iron Company of Canada, Quebec
Cartier Mining Company and Wabush
Mines. In 2001, Canadian iron ore
production was valued at $1.1 billion.
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