Quebec pellet plant closer to restart with labor deal

A labor agreement in Canada may bring an idled iron ore pellet plant closer to coming back online.

The labor deal between the United Steelworkers Local 6254 and Bedrock Industries could lead to the reopening of the 6mn t/yr (6.61mn st/yr) Pointe-Noire pellet plant in Sept-Îles, Quebec.

United Steelworkers coordinator Nicolas Lapierre said he expects one of the three pelletizing lines to be online by the end of the year with a production capacity of 2mn t/yr. The other two lines could be turned on by 2021.

The facility has been idled since June 2013, when then-owner Cliffs Natural Resources shut the plant down because of high costs.

After Ohio-based Cliffs, which is now known as Cleveland-Cliffs, went bankrupt, the Pointe-Noire facility ended up being owned by Société ferroviaire et portuaire de Pointe Noire (SFPPN), a public-private partnership rail and port business where the pellet plant is located. Ownership will will transfer to private equity firm Bedrock Industries "soon" pending a final commercial agreement between the parties, according to a press release announcing the labor agreement.

Bedrock Industries previously acquired Ontario steelmaker Stelco in 2017 as the company, formerly known as US Steel Canada, emerged from bankruptcy.

A spokesman for Bedrock Industries declined to provide additional details.