Iron ore producer Cliffs Natural Resources is shuttering its Bloom Lake mine in northeastern Quebec with plans to refocus on domestic operations.
In Q4, officials canceled expansion plans, after buying the asset in a $4.3 billion 2013 takeover; the Cleveland-based miner then estimated closure could reach $700 million over five years.
Amid five-year low prices buttressed by slackening Chinese demand, CEO Lourenco Goncalves said alternatives were nonexistent. “We brought to an end the flawed expansion that cost Cliffs billions,” he said in a release.
The project, said company representatives, is in care-and-maintenance with a final shipment from Port of Sept-Iles pending early this month, according to a statement quoted by Bloomberg News.
