The empty Fire Lake ore train - utilizing side dump cars - is seen having just arrived at the stub end track at the mine site with the QCM AC44CW #11 way off in the distance on the south end and the AC44CW #22 present to lead the loads north once the 1 and a quarter (or so) loading process is completed. I have multiple photos from this location but chose this one as the dump truck is visible in the foreground dumping raw ore as the tractors begin to dig in and load the train. The crew truck in the foreground is used to shuttle the crew back and forth between ends of the train. As info - the open-pit mine at Fire Lake is currently being worked because of the high demand for iron ore products. The mine operates solely between May and October, when the ground thaws. The Fire Lake mine site has neither a crusher nor a concentrator, though the extraction sequence is the same as at Mont-Wright (further north). All crude ore from Fire Lake is transported to Mont-Wright by train, over the rail link that connects Fire Lake to the main railway line. At Mont-Wright, the ore is carried to the crusher and broken up into fragments some 20 centimetres in diameter. The fragmented ore is then carried to the concentrator, where it is goes through the regular concentration process.
