Montreal, Quebec-based iron ore mining company Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Limited (CLM) has announced that it was notified Monday by its rail transportation carrier QNS&L Railway that its rail operations have been suspended for approximately 14 days due to damages to some portions of the railway caused by heavy rain and extreme wind in the North Shore sector of Québec.
These damages do not affect production at CLM's Bloom Lake mine site, and production of concentrate at the mine will be stockpiled at the site and be moved to the company's port facilities once the rail services are restored. CLM will work with its railway suppliers to haul iron ore concentrate very expeditiously to minimize the impact of the current rail service interruption. CLM has enough iron ore concentrate at its port facilities to complete the loading of the vessel currently at port. The loading of the next vessel will be postponed to the beginning of January.
"Despite this extraordinary adverse set of weather conditions, our processing facility at Bloom Lake is not affected and we maintain normal production activity. The only impact is the postponement of loading one vessel to the following month. We are very confident that QNS&L staff are doing everything to reinstate the railway service as soon as possible." said Brian V. Tobin, Executive Chairman, President and CEO of the Corporation.