Fermont

City

Coat of arms

Motto: Faire front, faire face

Fermont

Location in Côte-Nord Region of Quebec.

Coordinates: 52°47′N 67°05′W / 52.783°N 67.083°WCoordinates: 52°47′N 67°05′W / 52.783°N 67.083°W

Country

Canada

Quebec

Settled

1971

Constituted

October 15, 1974

Government

• Mayor

Martin St-Laurent

• Federal riding

Manicouagan

• Prov. riding

Duplessis

Area

• Total

495.50 km² (191.31 sq mi)

• Land

470.67 km² (181.73 sq mi)

Elevation

610 m (2,000 ft)

Population (2011)

• Total

2,874

• Density

6.1/km² (16/sq mi)

• Pop 2006-2011

9.2%

• Dwellings

1,389

Time zone

EST (UTC−5)

• Summer (DST)

EDT (UTC−4)

Highways

Website

Fermont is a town in northeastern Quebec, Canada, near the Quebec-Labrador border about 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Labrador City on Route 389, which connects to the Trans-Labrador Highway (Newfoundland and Labrador Route 500). It is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of Caniapiscau.

Fermont (French contraction of "Fer Mont", meaning "Iron Mountain") was founded as a company town in the early 1970s to exploit rich iron ore deposits from Mont Wright, that is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the west from the town site.

The town is notable for the huge self-contained structure containing apartments, stores, schools, bars, a hotel, restaurants, a supermarket and swimming pool which shelters a community of smaller apartment buildings and homes on its leeward side. The structure was designed to be a windscreen to the rest of the town. It permits residents (other than mine workers) to never leave the building during the long winter, which usually lasts about seven months. The town, designed by Maurice Desnoyers and Norbert Schoenauer, was inspired by similar projects in Sweden designed by Ralph Erskine, notably that of Svappavaara, an iron mining town in Sweden. The building measures 1.3 kilometres (4,300 ft) long and stands 50 metres (160 ft) high.

Following the depletion of the Jeannine Lake Mine at Gagnon in the late 1960s, the Québec Cartier Mining Company began to develop the Mont Wright Mine. This was a large-scale project that involved mining, processing, and transporting iron ore. Some 1600 employees would be needed, and the town of Fermont was constructed to house them and their families. By the end of 1972, the first people settled there. That same year, the Fermont post office opened, and in 1974, the place was incorporated as Ville de Fermont.

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Wikipedia