Lab West woes: Mulling over the future in uncertain times

There's been very little to boast about in Labrador West in recent months, but that doesn't mean area residents have lost hope for the future.

The closure of Wabush Mines in 2014 was a sharp blow to the area, and there are no immediate signs of a rebound in the worldwide iron ore industry.

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The loss of nearly 500 good-paying jobs has created an atmosphere of uneasiness and uncertainty and cast an ominous cloud over every aspect of life in the region. 

The Iron Ore Company of Canada mine in Labrador City continues to operate, employing some 2,500 people throughout its operations in Labrador and Quebec.

But it's also feeling the pinch of the industry downturn, and this week announced it was offering voluntary retirement incentives as a means of reducing labour costs.

Leaders looking long-term

Amid the doom and gloom, however, there is an underlying belief that there will be a recovery.

"I think long-term we will see Wabush Mines operate again," Mayor Colin Vardy said during a recent interview with CBC News.

Vardy and others are pinning their hopes on MFC Industrial, which owns the Wabush Mines site and was leasing it to the former operator, Cliffs Natural Resources.

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Representatives from MFC visited Wabush earlier this month, and offered a ray of hope for the future.

"They tell us they have a plan to reopen the mine when Cliffs exits the property and as far as today they’re saying that’s still the plan and they’re still moving towards that goal," added Jason Penney, president of the United Steelworkers union local that represented workers at Wabush Mines. 

“We’re being told the right things by MFC. They seem to have put forward quite a lot of effort and money in pursuing this with engineering first and negotiations and lawyers, so they seem to be pretty serious. 

“The problem is the timeframe. Since we first started discussions with MFC, the price of ore has dropped probably 50 per cent. So my message is yes, I do believe Wabush Mines is not done yet. But the question is when.”

Pain in the short-term

No one is willing to bank on a reactivation of the mine, at least in the short-term.

So former workers continue to come to grips with their new reality, and community leaders, business operators and taxpayers in Wabush face a tough transition from an era of affluence and first-rate services and amenities to one of shrinking budgets and painful belt-tightening.

But over the longer term, people like Penney envision a recovery.

“We all know the prices comes back with commodities, and I just hope it comes back in time and this mine can go back into production before Cliffs is able to complete their closure plan,” he said.

“I’m nervous that once the buildings go down, that would be the end of the game.”

For now, IOC in Labrador City is the last mine standing.

It's on fairly stable ground, but the closure in Wabush has rattled nerves.

Ron Thomas is president of the Steelworkers Union in Lab City, and is well aware of how precarious this business is.

"There's a huge uncertainty of any mining town around here. We've grown up in an area where Schefferville is just up the road, Gagnon was just down the road another way, and now they're ghost towns. They are closed down. So this is a one industry town and we know that. We just keep our fingers cross and hope we can keep getting the ore out."

The mayor of Wabush is calling for residents to stand together and stand strong as the region weathers this difficult storm.

“Some of these decisions are gonna be hard, some of these things that are going to unfold are going to be hard to live with. But I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. I’m just not sure how long that tunnel is right now.”