Québec Cartier Mining Company

Québec Cartier Mining Company is one of the leading producers of iron ore products in North America.

The company was founded in the late 50's by multiple Canadian and American investors. The first open pit mine was locate in Lac Jeanine. The company then built the town of Gagnon in 1963 to accomodate 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, where they created the town of Fermont, Quebec.

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.

The falling market forced Quebec Cartier to shut down its Fire Lake and Lac Jeanine plants in the mid 80's. The town of Gagnon was closed and it's population moved to Fermont and Port-Cartier.

Nearly bankrupt in 2002 due to falling price of iron ore and increasing price of production, Quebec Cartier's financial situation has since improved. The value of Quebec Cartier in 2006 is fifteen times what it was in 2002, due in large part from the demand of steel from developing country such China and India.

Quebec Cartier also own Cartier Railway, one of the biggest private railroad in Canada. Iron ore is sent from Fermont to Port-Catier by train on a 400 km railroad. The company owns about fifteen locomotives and about 500 open-deck cars.