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MINING | New Millennium Iron Corp. AUGUST 2014 | Resource Global Network 115
With bases in the provinces of
Quebec and Newfoundland-
Labrador, Canada, New
Millennium Iron Ore Corp. (TSX:
NML; “NML”) has a 20% stake in a
Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) project
that is 80% owned and operated
by Tata Steel Limited (NSE:
TATASTEEL) the 12th largest
steel producer in the world, as
well as another feasibility-stage
iron ore development called the
Taconite Project. Both projects
sit in the region of the vast
Millennium Iron Range (MIR), a
210-kilometre-long magnetic
iron ore belt controlled by NML
and straddling the Quebec and
Newfoundland-Labrador border
near the town of Schefferville,
Quebec. NML’s vision is to
become one of a significant lowcost
iron ore producer by 2020.
CEO Robert Patzelt joined NML in January
this year, having been headhunted on the
merit of his business and legal background
in the industrial sector. He spent a large
portion of his career working at privately
owned manufacturing conglomerate Scotia
Investments Ltd., where he ascended over
many years from an entry level position to
Senior Vice President. Robert recalls viewing
the opportunity to become CEO of NML as
“compelling and intriguing”, in spite of the
challenging conditions present in the global
iron ore market.
“I think what intrigued me most was that
there was this fascinating junior mining
company with a superior resource that was in
the next stages of development; the prospect
of its potential was the primary motivator,”
he explains.
“The secondary motivator was the amazing
staff and the people resources at NML, and
what they had done in taking a nascent idea
and becoming an exploration company, then
a developer, then to having the DSO project
well underway and the Taconite project past
the feasibility stage. Notwithstanding the
misalignment of the capital markets and the
commodity markets at the time, it was and is
a very exciting time to join this company and
that was the promethean force behind that.”
Robert’s first six months in the CEO role
haven’t disappointed, with NML going from
strength to strength in all its endeavours.
The DSO project
Tata Steel is not only NML’s strategic
partner but also its largest shareholder. The
steelmaking giant formed the subsidiary Tata
Steel Minerals Canada Ltd. (TSMC) in 2010
in order to develop a Canadian project that
would mine 58-60% iron ore and upgrade it
through a covered processing plant with 4.2
million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity.
The resulting product would be shipped
to Tata Steel Europe’s two blast furnace
plants in the UK (at Port Talbot in Wales
and Scunthorpe in England) and one in the
Netherlands to be used in steel production.
Map showing New Millennium Iron’s extensive resource
base and project areas, including the Tata Steel Minerals
Canada joint venture’s DSO Project as well as the KéMag
and LabMag deposits that comprise the Taconite Project