Iron-ore miner Champion, which operates the Bloom Lake mine on the south-end of the Labrador Trough, has posted record quarterly production, despite navigating one of Quebec’s biggest forest fires in recent history.

The company reported quarterly production of 3.4-million wet metric tonnes of high-grade 66.1% iron concentrate, representing more than 90% of Bloom Lake’s expanded nameplate capacity.

The 49% year-on-year increase in production was attributed to the strong performance of Phase 2, since achieving commercial production in December.

Ongoing optimisations are expected to enable Bloom Lake to reach its expanded production nameplate capacity of 15-million tonnes a year in the near term.

Financial results for the three months ended June were negatively affected by a lower iron-ore price.

The miner reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $65.8-million, compared with $94.9-million in the same period in 2022, and net income of $16.7-million, compared with $41.6-million a year earlier.

Lower-than-expected shipments in June as a result of forest fires, combined with record production during the quarter, increased iron-ore concentrate inventories at Bloom Lake to 1.3-million wet metric tonnes.

The iron-ore concentrate inventories are expected to be gradually shipped and sold in the upcoming quarters as the railway returns to normal capacity and the recently delivered locomotives are commissioned.

“While quarterly financial results were significantly affected by the severe forest fires, we expect to benefit from the sales of stockpiled iron-ore concentrate in the coming quarters as we gradually increase our shipping capacity with the recent delivery of additional rolling stock,” says Champion CEO David Cataford.