Ungava

Peninsular region in northern Québec and Labrador, Canada, bordered to the north by Hudson Strait, to the east by Ungava Bay and the Labrador Sea, to the south by the Eastmain River, and to the west by James Bay and Hudson Bay; area 911,110 sq km/351,780 sq mi. The peninsula is part of the Canadian Shield, and is barren and sparsely populated; low vegetation increases towards the south.

It was made a district of the Northwest Territories in 1895, and passed to Québec in 1912. A small area was given to Labrador in 1927, during the definition of the Québec–Newfoundland border. Large deposits of iron ore in the basin straddling the border have been developed by Canadian and US companies since 1954.

Mining proceeded after the completion of a railway line between Sept Iles on the St Lawrence and Schefferville in the heart of the Knob Lake ore-field. The Newfoundland section of this field produces about 40% of the ore mined. To the south of Knob Lake, a 64 km/40 mi-long branch railway was constructed to a large deposit of low grade ore, mined from 1962. Mining at Schefferville ended in 1983.

Higher grades of iron are found near the new towns of Labrador City and Wabush City, Newfoundland. The ore is transported to Pointe Noire, Québec, for pelletization.