TORONTO, March 12 /CNW/ - The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) announced (see attached press release) that the United Steel Workers of America at its Labrador city operations commenced a strike on March 9th.

The strike at IOC will adversely affect the revenue of the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Fund (the "Fund") as the Fund's income is entirely dependent on the sale of iron ore products by IOC.

PRESS RELEASE

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Iron Ore Company of Canada

For immediate release

IOC DISAPPOINTED WITH QUICK STRIKE DECISION

(Canada) Montreal, Sept-Iles, Labrador City, March 11, 2007 - The Iron Ore Company of Canada is disappointed that employees at their Labrador City operations voted to commence a legal strike on Friday March 9th, 2007.

Terence Bowles, President and CEO of IOC said : "We are concerned that our employees rejected the recent contract offer particularly given that major issues previously raised by the Union and our employees were all addressed in this offer. Along with wage and benefit increases of almost 10% over three years and a $4000 signing bonus, the Hydro subsidy was maintained as well as the status quo on contracting out. Our negotiating team worked very hard to find common ground, ultimately agreeing to many of the Union's requests during the marathon negotiations sessions of this past week. We were disappointed that our employees did not take at least a day to consider the contract proposal before making such an important decision. As we all know strikes cost everyone and that will certainly be true in this case. We are hopeful that a way forward can be found before this strike has major impact on all of our stakeholders."

About IOC

IOC is the largest manufacturer of iron ore pellets in Canada and its customer base covers North American, European and Asian steel producers. The Company operates a mine, concentrator and a pelletizing plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as port facilities located in Sept-Iles (Quebec). It also operates a 418 kilometer railroad that links the mine to the port. IOC has approximately 1800 employees and its major shareholder and operator is the international mining group Rio Tinto, which has activities in more than 40 countries throughout the world.

                                        IOC is certified : ISO 9001:2000.
                          IOC is certified : ISO 14001-2004 (Environment)

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