Pointe-Noire (French pronunciation: [pwɛ̃t nwaʁ]) is a peninsula and an industrial area in the city of Sept-Îles in the Sept-Rivières regional county municipality and the Côte-Nord region in the Canadian province of Quebecc.[1][2]
Pointe-Noire, Quebec | |
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Sector | |
 Alouette smelter and MS Maasdam in the harbour | |
 Interactive map of Pointe-Noire, Quebec |
Used as a deep-sea port throughout the twentieth century, the sector is now a metallurgical complex and transportation hub.
Etymology
editGeography
editPointe-Noire is located on the Marconi Peninsula, which forms the southern boundary of Baie des Sept Îles, an inlet of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The headland lies between Portage Sainte-Marguerite Cove and Brochu Cove.[2]
Taking advantage of the natural harbour formed by the Baie des Sept Îles, an industrial and port complex focused on metallurgy has been developed on the headland itself. Iron ore transported from the mines in the Labrador Trough is refined there before being loaded onto ships bound for steelworks. Furthermore, the Alouette aluminium smelter, the largest in the Americas, is located at Pointe-Noire, at the eastern tip of the Marconi Peninsula.[2]
History
edit
From 1905 to 1913, the Norwegian company Steam Whaling operated a whale oil factory in Pointe-Noire.[3]
A wharf is also built in 1908 by James and William Clarke for their mill in Clarke City. They also built the first rail line in the region, linking Pointe-Noire with the mill.[4]
Along with the development of mining in the central Labrador peninsula, an iron ore pelletising plant and a port terminal were built in 1961. A new railroad, Chemin de fer Arnaud, was built by Wabush Mines between Pointe-Noire and Sept-Îles. The plant was inaugurated in the summer of 1965; Pointe-Noire then became a major port and industrial area of the Côte-Nord.[5][6][7] In 1989, the plant employed 358 workers.[5]
In 1970, a bill is passed to annex Pointe-Noire to the city of Sept-Îles, thus allowing the local government to collect taxes on the Wabush Mines terminal.[8]
Work began in 1989 by a series of partners to build an aluminium smelter : Société générale de financement, Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi, YKK, as well as Austrian, German and Swiss interests.[5] The opening of the 1,000-worker Aluminerie Alouette three years later, against the backdrop of a slump in the iron markets, helped fuelling the metallurgy-oriented economy of the region.[5]
Transportation
editPointe-Noire is the site of three terminals for the Port of Sept-Îles, although located 28 kilometres away from the other facilities, across the bay.[2] The Multi-user terminal is the first Chinamax-compatible berth in North America.[9][10][11]
The terminals are served by the Chemin de fer Arnaud, a 38-kilometre shortline connecting Pointe-Noire to the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, which carries the iron ore trains from the Labrador Trough to the coast.[2][6]
A weekly railcar ferry service across the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Pointe-Noire and Matane, operated by a subsidiary of Canadian National, connects the North Shore rail lines to the North American network.[12][13][14]
References
edit- ↑ "Pointe-Noire". Atlas of Canada. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Pointe-Noire". Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2025-05-26.
- ↑ Émilie, Dufour Lauzon (2016-07-06). "Une fabrique d'huile de baleine dans la Baie de Sept-Îles". Instantanés, la vitrine des archives BAnQ. Archived from the original on 2022-12-02.
- ↑ Frenette, Pierre (1996). Histoire de la Côte-Nord (in French). Presses de l'Université Laval. pp. 364–365. ISBN 9782892242669.
- 1 2 3 4 Frenette, Pierre (1996). Histoire de la Côte-Nord (in French). Presses de l'Université Laval. pp. 463–478. ISBN 9782892242669.
- 1 2 Lee, John M. (1965-05-17). "New Mining Town Digs In for the Summer; Newfoundland Rock Yielding Glittering Ores of Iron". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-05-26.
- ↑ "À Pointe-Noire : Nouvelle usine de boulettage de minérai de fer de $50 millions" (pdf). Le Droit (in French). Vol. 53, no. 162. Ottawa. 1965-07-13. p. 23 – via Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
- ↑ Frenette, Pierre (1996). Histoire de la Côte-Nord (in French). Presses de l'Université Laval. pp. 496–497. ISBN 9782892242669.
- ↑ "Port Terminals | Port of Sept-Îles". Port de Sept-Îles. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
- ↑ "Port infrastructure - SFP Pointe-Noire". SFPPN. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
- ↑ "Port of Sept-Îles". Government of Canada. 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
- ↑ "Infrastructures ferroviaires - SFP Pointe-Noire". SFPPN (in French). Retrieved 2026-05-26.
- ↑ Bérubé, Johanne (2018-01-31). "40 ans de service pour le Georges-Alexandre-Lebel". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2026-05-26.
- ↑ Fanny, Lévesque (2016-08-01). "Le chemin de fer Arnaud passe au provincial". Le Nord-Côtier (in French). Retrieved 2026-05-26.
50°9′29″N 66°29′13″W / 50.15806°N 66.48694°W
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