Reuters quotes a chief executive at Rio Tinto, the majority owner of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, as wanting to keep competition from getting a stronger foothold into the iron ore market.

Alderon chair Mark Morabito believes Rio Tinto is increasing production so it can flood the market with iron ore.

"They're attempting to drive higher cost production out of the market, put them right out of business, and attempting to keep new entrants like us from entering the market. Quite simple," Morabito said.

Alderon's project has been approved for construction, but the company has had trouble securing financing for its Kami Iron Ore Mine project.

That has caused delays, which Morabito blames squarely on Rio Tinto.

"We're not going anywhere — this project will be built. It is delayed because of the predatory tactics of Rio Tinto. It's very difficult to go out and raise money to build an iron ore mine when the second largest iron ore company in the world is flooding the market with supply — in attempts to drive the price down," he said.

Morabito calls the construction delay "depressing," but said Alderon does have enough cash to weather the downturn.

Construction work on a third transmission line for western Labrador was suspended last week. The provincial government said that work was halted due to Alderon's inability to wrap up financing for the Kami project.