Iron Ore Company of Canada


Iron Ore Company of Canada is a Canadian-based producer of iron ore. The company was founded in 1949 from a partnership of Canadian and American M.A. Hanna Company. It is now owned by a new consortium, including the Mitsubishi and Rio Tinto corporations. Rio Tinto is the majority shareholder in the venture, with 58.7% of the joint stock as of October 2013. Mitsubishi controlled 26.2% of the investment as of March 2013.
Based in Montreal, Quebec, IOC currently has mining and concentrator operations in Labrador City, and operates the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway to ship ore concentrate from the mines, such as Wabush, to the port of Sept-Îles, Quebec. Currently, this railway form an isolated railroad network, as it does not interchange with any other rail lines on the North American network.
During 1977 to 1983, the president of the company was Brian Mulroney, who later served as Canadian Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993.

GMD SW1200MG

IOC's Carol Lake mine near Labrador City, Labrador utilizes a small fleet of GMD SW1200MG electric locomotives to haul raw ore from the mine to a processing plant. The short electrified railway is the last remaining electrified cargo railway in Canada.
The cargo trains are unmanned and fully automated, advancing block by block based on the condition of the block of track ahead. The motive power is SW1200 MG single units, each having a single phase AC motor driving the standard EMD traction generator and traction motors. A horn blows every few seconds as a constant warning that the trains are unmanned.