Lac Tio Ilmenite Deposit ? Introduction

In the ten years since its discovery the Lac Tio ilmenite-hematite deposit has become one of the world's largest sources of titanium ore. The deposit lies 25 miles north Havre St, Pierre, a fishing village on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River some 400 miles northeast of Quebec City. In 1941, J, A, Retty made a reconnaissance survey of the region for the Quebec Department of Mines. His results, published in 1942 and 1944, described a number of small ilmenite occurrences on the shores of four lakes within the area. Several of these were staked by Montreal and Toronto interests, Two of the claim groups were later optioned by Kennco Explorations, (Canada) Ltd, and a third by the New Jersey Zinc Company, During a detailed exploration program in 1946, Kennco geologists discovered eight ilmenite deposits, one of which was Lac Tio, the largest known body of ilmenite-hematite ore in the world. Quebec Iron and Titanium Corporation owned two-thirds by Kennecott and one-third by The New Jersey Zinc Company as organized in 1948 to equip and operate the new mining property. A railroad 27 miles in length was built (completed in 1950) to transport the ore to the St. Lawrence River at Havre St. Pierre, An electric furnace treatment plant, yielding a high purity iron and slag containing 70 m 75 percent Ti02, to process the ore was built at Sorel, Quebec, 550 miles up the river from Havre St. Pierre.