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The World Is Running Out of Iron Ore — This Company Has The Answer

VRIC Media Jun 30, 2026

Summary

Steel demand is shifting toward high-purity iron ore as green-steel pressure grows and major producers mine out high-grade deposits.

Transportation is at least half the all-in cost of iron ore, so tidewater access without rail can decide project economics.

Direct reduction iron needs about 67% iron content and under 3% silica (impurities that can make steel brittle), a bar few deposits meet.

Iron ore prices anchor to a benchmark 62% grade, then add premiums for higher purity and deduct shipping to the customer.

The featured Quebec project pairs tidewater access with a 1.4 billion tonne resource and a pre-feasibility study (an updated economic study) due late 2026.

Key points on Artemis Gold

  • The host notes Steven Dean built Artemis Gold into an $8 billion company before turning to Oceanic Iron Ore.

Key points on Eldorado Gold

  • The guest says the Canada Growth Fund recently invested in a mining company that Eldorado Gold has just acquired, as context for the government funding programs Oceanic is targeting.

Steven Dean's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The CEO names Steven Dean as his business partner at Oceanic, citing his record building Artemis Gold to an $8 billion company and co-building Atlantic Gold's Moose River project.
  • He describes Dean as sharing day-to-day management with him, the pair having held the Quebec project since its late-2010 acquisition.

Jay Martin's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The host discloses he is a new Oceanic shareholder and frames the interview around whether transportation, not geology, is the limiting factor for iron ore developers.
  • He presses for near-term catalysts, including the updated economic study, the federal Major Projects Office, government funding programs, and where a strategic partner might come from.

Chris Batalha's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He argues iron ore is a function of what people need rather than sentiment, and that high-purity supply is finite and concentrated in Brazil and Quebec as steelmakers pursue green steel.
  • He contends transportation is at least half of an iron ore producer's all-in cost, and that tidewater access without rail is the project's key economic edge over other Quebec developers.
  • He frames the green steel push (steelmaking accounts for 8 to 9 percent of global carbon emissions, per the guest) as raising demand for direct-reduction grade ore of 67% iron with under 3% silica, which his 66.6% concentrate nearly meets with modest flowsheet changes.
  • He targets a strategic partner within 6 to 12 months to help fund construction in exchange for offtake, and sees the Middle East, Japan, and India as the most likely suitors.
  • He calls the asset multi-generational and declines to drill Morgan and Roberts Lake now, since added tons would fall after year 28 of the mine plan and add little current value.

Frank Giustra's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The CEO notes Frank Giustra acquired the Quebec iron ore asset from prospectors at the end of 2010 and has stayed involved since with the other Fiore Capital founders.
  • The host says Giustra has suggested the deposit could support roughly a hundred years of mining, a project that would outlast him.