Name of the Project
Bloom Lake Phase II.

Location
Near the town of Fermont, in north-east Quebec, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Canadian iron-ore producer Champion Iron.

Project Description
Bloom Lake has mineral reserves of 807-million tonnes at an average grade of 29% iron.

A feasibility study has evaluated the combined Phase I and II mining plan, current concentrator plant at Phase I and completion of the Phase II concentrator plant. The results recommend an expansion of Bloom Lake, resulting in a life-of-mine (LoM) production averaging 15-million tonnes a year of high-grade 66.2% iron-ore concentrate.

Based on the new optimised mine plan, the mining rate will also be increased to accelerate the supply of ore to the expanded facilities while maintaining an LoM of 20 years. In addition to reserves at the Bloom Lake mine, Champion Iron also controls more than five-billion tonnes of resources south of current operations.

The Phase II mine plan continues with a conventional surface mining method using an owner mining approach. Electric hydraulic shovels will be complemented with front-end loaders to allow for a flexible mine plan. Additional drilling and hauling capacity will be added as mine tonnages increase.

The processing plant for the Phase II concentrator is based on the design of the operational Phase I, with minor changes to further improve performance. The recovery circuit is similar to the Phase I concentrator, with the addition of a stage of scavenger up-current classifier to increase recovery and improve response to feed variations.

Potential Job Creation
In addition to the current workforce of about 500 employees, the Phase II project is estimated to employ another 500 employees during the build period and 375 permanent positions once in production.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Under the base case assumption of an average LoM P65 price of $83.9/t, the project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of C$1.53-billion and an internal rate of return of 42.4%, with a payback of 2.4 years. Under this base case assumption, the combined value of Phase I and II has a pretax net present value of C$3.76-billion, or about C$8.60/share.

Capital Expenditure
Champion Iron benefits from $1.2-billion already spent on the Phase II project by its predecessor. 

The completion of the project is estimated to require additional capital expenditure, estimated at C$589.8-million, which includes a 15% contingency.

Planned Start/End Date
The project is expected to be completed by mid-2022.

Latest Developments
Champion Iron is evaluating the potential of producing a high-grade, direct-reduction pellet feed product at its Bloom Lake mine, in Quebec, as decarbonisation efforts by steelmakers in several key markets accelerate.

The company is working on a feasibility study to take eight-million tonnes a year from Bloom Lake, which is in the final stages of expansion, and upgrade those to 69% iron material using a flotation process.

“We feel that a flotation plant is a very good potential project for Champion and we will . . . come back to the market once we have the results of the feasibility study by mid-2022,” CEO David Cataford said during a conference in January 2022.

There are not enough projects to produce direct-reduced iron product being approved at a time when there is structural shift under way in the steel industry towards reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, he added.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Champion Iron, tel +1514316 4858 or email info@championironmines.com.