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I post this to show that these railroads are not limited to 4 or 5 million tons The following article refers to the QSN&L line (IOC)

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Labrador Iron Mines (LIM), which owns properties in Labrador and Quebec, would raise yearly production to three-million tons in 2012, president and COO Bill Hooley said on Thursday.
The company has completed construction on a rail spur, linking its projects to the Sept-Iles port, with first production expected by November.
Icy winter conditions mean that the company cannot rail its production to the port 600 km away from November to April, during which time it halts production.
LIM will produce two-million tons of the steelmaking ingredient next year, and will add another module to its plant to raise output by a third in 2012, Holley said in an interview.
After that, the company would look to expand production to six-million tons a year, though Hooley said yearly production levels would be "more likely" to reach four-million tons to five-million tons.
Before the company can start production, it needs a mine operating permit, which Hooley expected to receive "hopefully in days".
LIM's nearest neighbour is TSX Venture Exchange-listed New Millennium Capital Corporation, which owned properties 25 km north of LIM.
Rio Tinto's Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), the country's biggest producer, has operations 200 km to the south of LIM's. IOC is spending C$435-million to increase its capacity by four-million tons to 22-million tons by 2012.
US miner Cliffs Natural Resources operates the Wabush mine, also located south of LIM's operations, where it produced 2,7-million tons of iron-ore in 2009. The company's website states the mine has a yearly production capacity of 5,5-million tons.
Hooley said that LIM had not yet signed any offtake agreements with steel mills, but would start next year.
"We're going to sell this year's production on the spot market," he said.
"We will enter into offtake agreements from 2011 onwards."
LIM views Europe as its "natural market", given the geography of its mines. It takes ten shipping days for ore to reach Europe, and 45 days to get to China, the word's biggest steel producer.
"But China is such a large customer for iron-ore, we can't ignore that market," Hooley noted.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg Businessweek reported Chinese iron-ore spot prices had fallen to their lowest levels in almost five months amid concern construction in the Asian country might slow.
The report added that Chinese iron-ore imports had dropped for a second month in May.
FIRST NATIONS
Last month, a group of First Nations called the Innu Strategic Alliance blocked access to mining properties in the Schefferville area, including LIM's projects. This was part of a campaign to have their ancestral rights in the territory called Nitassinan recognised by government.
Hooley said he hoped this barricade would be lifted in two days to three days.
LIM had previously expressed disappointment at the barricade.
"LIM respects the legitimate aspirations of all First Nations, but believes that negotiations on impact benefit agreements for mining projects should not be side tracked by larger land claim considerations, where LIM has no say or ability to provide solutions," it said.
LIM was trading 2,5% higher at C$4,20 a share on Thursday morning, while the Toronto market was flat.
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