Steel and mining group ArcelorMittal retracted earlier Canadian press reports it may see cuts to iron ore operations from Mont Wright, Quebec, starting in 2022, stating Thursday there was no longer-term plan to reduce output, while the impact beyond 2030 was unknown.
ArcelorMittal Mining Canada's (AMMC) annualized production from the area is now at 27 million mt/year, up from around 26 million mt over 2015, according to an email from a company spokesman.
This was achieved after stretching capacity further from the expansion of 60% to reach 24 million mt/year in 2013. Cash costs remain at the same lower level after having fallen to $25/mt in Q4 2015.
"Since 2013, we have continued to stretch volumes with minimal capex, principally through further driving down costs, and we expect to continue to stretch volumes in this way," the company said.
AMMC is not winding down mining activities at Mont Wright by 2030, while it has indefinitely delayed the so-called "offload" project involving the removal of surface layers overlaying the ore deposit, according to the company spokesman.
This would have allowed the mine life to be extended by up to 15 years through 2045, the company added.
The project's suspension was due to current iron ore market conditions and need to reduce AMMC's operating costs further, it said. AMMC is currently in discussions with unions regarding the best way to proceed with this project.
The AMMC unit shipped 26 million mt of iron ore concentrate and pellets in 2015, up from 22.7 million mt in 2014, and produced in line with sales, up 10.9% year on year.
Cash costs for iron ore concentrate were below $25/mt in Q4 2015, it said.
"Mont Wright is the company's biggest mine and production cost per tonne are the lowest in the group," it said.
AMMC production in the seasonally weaker Q1 period was at 6 million mt, increasing 7.2% compared to Q1 2015.
AMMC's operation in the Labrador Trough has a 9.3 million mt capacity pellet production complex in Port Cartier, and caters for blast furnace and direct reduction grades.
ArcelorMittal also produces high-grade iron ore from Baffinland in eastern Canada's Arctic Circle, and has mines in Liberia, Mexico and in Brazil's Minas Gerais, as well as in Kazakhstan, feeding iron ore to its own steel mills in the Americas and Europe, as well as for merchant sales.
