QSL maritime terminal operator in Quebec City for Glencore for 50 years
On Wednesday, May 2, there was an event highlighting Glencore’s 50 years of operation at the Port of Quebec. Representatives of QSL, Glencore, Fednav, Pentagon as well as the ports of Quebec and Kristiansand remembered the beginnings, challenges and successes of all these promising years. We hope this partnership will continue for at least the next 50 years!
The story behind this business success
It was in 1968 that Falconbridge Ltd. (before becoming Glencore) built a bulk terminal at the Battures de Beauport. This terminal was dedicated to receiving nickel matte cars from the Sudbury mine in Ontario, one of the oldest nickel mines to open in 1891.
Matte nickel thus received is stored in 3 silos containing 9,000 tonnes in total. It is then reloaded on a ship, the M/V Falcon, owned by Falconbridge Ltd. to take the direction of the Port of Kristiansand in Norway. The Nickelverk mill, located there, will turn matte nickel into anodes for use in the manufacture of, among other things, stainless steel. These trips back and forth between the port of Quebec and that of Kristiansand were repeated 10 times in one year.
Photo Credit Quebec Port Authoritiy
In addition to transporting material from the Sudbury mine in Ontario, QSL helped set up the Raglan Mine in the Far North. In 1996, modules for the mine site were built on the Beauport terminal and then loaded onto barges destined to Deception Bay.
Source: Timelie, mineRaglan.can
In July 1998, the Raglan mine was officially inaugurated and it is also during this same year that the first shipment of concentrated nickel was shipped to the Port of Québec.
It was the beginning of an adventure that continues today in 2018.
Source: Timelie, mineRaglan.can
LOOP EXPLAINED
The Port of Quebec – Hub for Glencore
QSL has the role of handling material coming in and out of Glencore.
Raglan Mine to Quebec City (Beauport) – Concentrated Nickel by Vessel
Quebec (Beauport) to Sudbury, ON – Railcar- Concentrated Nickel
Transformation of nickel matte concentrate at the Sudbury, ON plant
Sudbury, ON to Québec (Beauport) – Nickel matte by Railcars
Quebec (Beauport) to Kristiansand, Norway – Nickel matte by vessel that will be turned into anodes at the Glencore Nickelverk plant.