Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for inviting me.
Let me take you to the border of Quebec and Labrador, home to one of Canada's most developed mining regions, the Labrador Trough. This region holds some of the purest iron ore in the world, now recognized on Canada's critical mineral list for its strategic role in decarbonizing the steel industry.
Thanks to hydroelectric power, we produce a high‑purity iron‑ore concentrate and our carbon footprint is one of the lowest in the world.
With up to 80 billion tonnes of resources, the trough has tremendous long-term potential, with current operations and projects that could progress rapidly, such as our Kami project.
Despite these advantages, a gap has developed between Canada's share of the global iron ore market and that of other producing countries, such as Australia. While Australia's resources are lower in quality, it has heavily invested in it's iron ore sector, generating $20 billion annually in taxes and royalties over the past decade.
We believe Canada must act now to unleash the full potential of its high‑purity iron‑ore industry.
Given the quality level of this scarce resource, it is our duty to develop and promote this sector intelligently.
This industry could thrive for generations. However, the greatest challenge we face is the deployment of new mining projects.
Champion's story is a case in point. In 2014, we founded the company with a vision of developing high-purity iron ore projects in the Labrador Trough. We were a small team of three. We restarted operations at the Bloom Lake mine site in 2018. Since then, we've doubled our production. We did it during a global pandemic on time and on budget. Today we are more than 1,300 employees, and we are still growing responsibly and sustainably.
This growth was made possible through creative partnerships. Examples include federal investments in the Port of Sept-Îles in 2014, and Quebec's acquisition of the Pointe-Noire assets in which we're also financial partners.
We are proud to have the Government of Quebec as one of our main shareholders and to have generated some of the biggest returns for Quebec taxpayers.
Since 2018, we have invested close to $2 billion in our project in the Labrador Trough and paid close to a billion dollars in taxes and royalties to the governments of Quebec and Canada.
Our host communities of Fermont and Labrador West have long played a central role in the Canadian mining sector. The people in these communities have acquired decades of expertise in the iron industry. These communities have contributed significantly to local and national economic development.
Our partnerships with indigenous communities are strong and based on mutual respect and trust.
Today we stand before a unique opportunity to fully unlock the Labrador Trough's potential. To seize it, we must establish a critical minerals corridor, which requires strategic investments in infrastructure in the region. Three major infrastructure projects need to be developed in the trough. A new transmission line needs to be built between Churchill Falls and Labrador West. This is essential for the Kami project to proceed and to foster development in the community. Investments in the Société ferroviaire et portuaire de Pointe-Noire are required to continue growing the Port of Sept-Îles, the second-largest port in Canada largely due to high-grade iron ore. We had the opportunity to complete the rail loop in the Labrador Trough, which would allow continuous train circulation and significantly boost capacity and efficiency.
These infrastructure investments will enable our Kami project, which represents a $4-billion investment to create more than 600 quality jobs in the region. We recently formed a partnership with Nippon Steel and Sojitz for the development of the Kami project.
This partnership with Japanese world leaders of the steel industry speaks to the exceptional quality of the resources found in the Labrador Trough and the region's proven capacity to sustainably develop high‑purity iron‑ore mining projects on a large scale.
As we're advancing Kami toward a final investment decision, our vision remains to develop a nation-building project. Kami supports the decarbonization of the global steel industry. It is backed by strategic partners and led by Champion Iron, a company with a proven track record, having delivered multi-billion dollar projects on time and on budget. It has the potential to generate benefits for decades to come for our partners, communities and governments, and could be ready for rapid implementation following a final investment decision.
In a time of economic uncertainty, investing in infrastructure supporting high-purity iron ore projects in the Labrador Trough is key to diversifying markets, increasing exports and creating wealth at home.
Once again, thank you for inviting me to take part in your study.