Québec Cartier Mining Company was one of the leading producers of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

products in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, now part of

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...

. The company was founded in the late 1950s by multiple Canadian and American investors, based in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The first open pit mine was located in Lac-Jeanine, Quebec. The Hart-Jaune Dam over the nearby Hart Jaune River supplied power. The company then built the town of Gagnon, in 1963 to accommodate workers and families. Eighteen years later, the company extended its operations seventy miles north to Fire Lake. In 1973, they started operating in

Mont Wright, Quebec Mont Wright was a mountain in Fermont, Quebec, a site of major iron ore mining operations since the 1970s by Québec Cartier Mining Company. It is located in Caniapiscau Regional County Municipality. Mont Wright itself does not exist anymore; it ...

, where they created the town of

Fermont Fermont () is a town in northeastern Quebec, Canada, near the Quebec-Labrador border about from Labrador City on Route 389, which connects to the Trans-Labrador Highway (Newfoundland and Labrador Route 500). It is the seat of the Regional Cou ...

. At their Mont Wright plant, the company operates an open pit mine and a crusher/concentrator facility capable of producing eighteen million metric tonnes of iron ore concentrates annually. The company also operates a pellet plant with an annual production capacity of some nine million metric tonnes of iron ore pellets at

Port-Cartier Port-Cartier is a city in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Aux-Rochers River, exactly southwest of Sept-Îles, Quebec. Port-Cartier had a population of 6,65 ...

. The falling market forced Québec Cartier to shut down its Fire Lake and Lac Jeannine plants in the mid 80's. The town of Gagnon was closed and its population moved to Fermont and Port-Cartier. Nearly insolvent in 2002 due to falling price of iron ore and increasing price of production, Québec Cartier's financial situation has since improved. Québec Cartier also owned

Cartier Railway The Cartier Railway (formerly CFC and QCM) is a privately owned railway that operates of track in the Canadian province of Québec. It is operated by the Cartier Railway Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal, formerly Québe ...

, one of the biggest private railways in Canada. Iron ore is sent from Fermont to Port-Cartier by train on a railway. The company owns about fifteen locomotives and about 500 open-deck cars.

New ownership

In 2007,

Dofasco ArcelorMittal Dofasco is a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dofasco is a standalone subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest integrated steel producer. History Clifton and Frank A. Sherman founded Dominion Foundries and ...

, the major shareholder of Québec Cartier, was bought by ArcelorMittal. This made Québec Cartier one of the leading mining facilities of the world biggest steel producer. On May 29, 2008, Francois Pelletier, president of Québec Cartier had a speech in front of his employees and press in Port-Cartier and Fermont to announce the renaming of Québec Cartier to Arcelor Mittal Mines of Canada. Pelletier said in his speech: "After 51 years of existence, Québec Cartier, proud of its heritage, now look at the future under its new name, with its new family with optimism."

References

Compagnie minière Québec Cartier. (1976). La Compagnie minière Québec Cartier = Quebec Cartier Mining Company. ort-Cartier? La Compagnie. (Worldcat link

Companies based in Quebec Iron ore mining companies of Canada ArcelorMittal Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies {{Canada-company-stub