IOC opens doors for Mining Week

Mining Week is coming to Labrador West.

Activities like a Chamber of Commerce Luncheon, Mining Career Presentations at the College of the North Atlantic, Mall Displays, and Mine Tours are scheduled for the week of Nov. 2-7.

The event will really take mining out to the community to show its presence in society.

"The whole intent here is to increase the profile of mining, its impact on society and its place in society," says Tayfun Eldem, VP of Operations and Engineering at IOC.

The week is coordinated by IOC, the Canadian Institute of Mining, and the Department of Natural Resources and will happen in conjunction with the Mineral Resources Review hosted in St. John's.

Eldem explains it will give a flavour of what IOC, which is a major part of the community, does as a company.

The history

IOC started its operations in 1954 extracting ore from Schefferville transported by rail to Sept-Iles.

In the early 1960s, IOC started its Carol Lake operations in Labrador City, and Eldem explains, the community became what it is because of that development.

He says in those days employment at IOC was very sizeable and over time, with the advent of technology and streamlining of operations, the company moved from fairly large numbers to the employment levels that they have right now, which is around 2,000 strong in Labrador City, Sept-Îles, and MontrÉal.

Over the years, he goes on to say, the ownership of IOC moved from steelmakers to non-steelmakers, and it became a mining and merchant company. The major acquisition happened in 1997 by Australian-based company North Limited, which was later acquired in 2001 by Rio Tinto.

IOC sells their product globally to some of the world's largest steelmakers, informs Eldem, including countries in North America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.

"2009 was certainly a very challenging year for us," says Eldem. "We went from late 2008 from an expansion mode to complete cash conservation mode in response to the global recession."

The company made the decision to shut down for five weeks in the summer to conserve cash, explains Eldem, and for the first six months of the year decided to run at 50 per cent pellet capacity.

He goes on to say contrary to what happened in other businesses, IOC maintained employment levels and after the shutdown even hired 40 extra employees.

As of September, he adds, the company is back to full pellet production and set a number of records in mining operations in terms of volume of material it moved.

Last year IOC started a major upgrade of its mining fleet and did not cancel any orders.

"We are also closely watching the markets because there is still some lingering uncertainty," says Eldem. "But at this point in time we expect to run at full capacity until the year end."

He maintains the company's objective is still to become more cost competitive by realizing economies of scale when it comes to production.

"That's what we want to do because we believe that the long-term outlook is robust. We're just taking a bit of a pause, a bit of a time out, and we're waiting for the markets to correct and come back up and when the opportunity presents itself we will look to restart our expansion projects."

With regards to future in mining, he states, "we have enough reserves currently that will allow us to operate at current production levels for another 30 years. In addition, we have more resources that we can convert into reserves in time that will likely give us another 50 years of life."

He sets out the goals of IOC as a large reserve base, being cost competitive, delivering quality product on the market, and performance to maintain confidence of shareholders. However, he admits none of these things would be possible without a capable workforce.

He explains it is important to have a vibrant community if the company wants to attract talent. He adds the employees are their most valued resources and the company works very hard to nurture the relationship with its employees.

"There's more to life than just work, consequently we want our employees' experience outside of work to be just as enriching," says Eldem.

He states IOC will continue to support community events like the Labrador West Music Festival, Great Labrador Loppett, and Relay for Life. He also explains the company worked very closely with stakeholders in establishing a location for the new hospital, which is slated to be built on land that was relinquished by one of its shareholders.

He goes on to say investing in the community has a lot to do with sustainable development, which has to do with finding harmony between environment, community, and business.

One of the major initiatives IOC has undertaken is the tailings project.

"The project was completed and commissioned and in compliance well in advance of the deadline and it was gazetted and became law in January of 2009," says Eldem. "The project completed ahead of schedule, on budget, and is doing exactly what it's intended to do."

In fact, this year IOC won a CIM Award for Excellence in Sustainable Development for the Tailings Management Project also known as "From Tailings to Biodiversity."

The mining company has also won several safety awards, including the John T. Ryan Trophy in 2008 as the safest mine in Eastern Canada for its safety record as having the lowest lost time injury frequency rate in its category. Eldem explains from 2001 when IOC had in excess of 100 lost time injuries, the company is now recording single digits.

He also points out in 2007 and 2009, the company won the H.J. O'Connell trophy from the Quebec Mining Association for safety performance.

Looking to the future, he explains, the Mining Technology Program at CNA will still be offered and if the markets hold up he sees no reason why IOC should not run the student employment program next summer.

During mining week, he urges all residents to take part in the activities.

"We have a profound presence in Labrador West," he adds. "Come and have a look."