Canadian mining company Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation (LIORC) has announced its financial results for 2011, stating that the sales of Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) decreased due to lower than expected concentrate production.
In 2011, LIORC's profit decreased by 12.4 percent to C$174.4 million, while its revenues amounted to C$162.5 million, down 1.15 percent, both compared to 2010.
In addition, the iron ore sales of IOC in 2011 amounted to 13.2 million mt compared to 15.1 million mt in 2010, due to mine equipment problems and weather-related operating problems in the winter months.
Regarding the 2012 outlook, the company expects prices in the iron ore markets to remain near current levels for the first half of the year with higher levels expected in the second half. With the commissioning of phase two of its expansion, IOC is expected to increase output in 2012 and sell all the iron ore it can produce.