TRANSPORTATION OF UNGAVA IRON ORE *

• Published in: Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes
• Main Authors: LLOYD, TREVOR, NUTT, DAVID C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1960
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Hudson; Hudson Strait; Ungava Bay; Davis Strait; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1960.tb01830.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1541-0064.1960.tb01830.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1960.tb01830.x

ABSTRACT. This paper discusses a mining project which, when completed, may have profound influence on economic development of the whole Canadian Eastern Arctic. Slowness in developing the region has been due, in large measure, to difficulty of access, particularly in winter. This has been reflected in high transportation costs as compared with areas farther south, or in the same latitude on the western margin of the Canadian Shield. The most promising location for mining development in the Eastern Arctic in the near future is in the neighbourhood of Hudson Strait. Large iron ore deposits on the west side of Ungava Bay are well located to satisfy part of the growing demand for steel in the nations bordering the North Atlantic. However, mineral development anywhere in the Eastern Arctic is seriously handicapped by a short navigation season which makes it difficult to carry construction materials and equipment to the sites and to ship the products out to markets. In Ungava Bay, the open season is about jour months, too short a period to convey sufficient tonnages of ore over the long sea routes to Europe or the Eastern United States. Entirely apart from transportation, there are other problems to be faced in opening up such an entirely undeveloped region to mining, but they are of a type met with and overcome elsewhere. There is, however, apparently no precedent for a mine needing to export several million tons of ore a year over routes in excess of 2,000 miles, but with a shipping season restricted to so few months. The solution in the case of Ungava Bay is to employ an intermediate transfer station in an ice‐free area of West Greenland on the far side of Davis Strait. The paper describes some of the factors taken into consideration in planning the exploitation of Ungava iron ore, transportation of the concentrate, and in particular the selection of an ice‐free port site in Greenland. This project will, if successful, pioneer the industrialization of northern‐most Quebec, but, of perhaps greater long run ...