In August 1950, the first train carrying ore arrived in Havre-Saint-Pierre. For one month, more than 125,000 tonnes of ore were processed by the temporary crushing unit at the terminal. In September, an ore carrier with the first load of ilmenite left Havre-Saint-Pierre en route for Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel, and the reduction furnace was inaugurated in October.

The company was now faced with the challenge of refining the process. The trial period was long, arduous and revealed a number of glitches that had to be ironed out: exploding molten metal, product loss at the smelting stage, inconsistency in product grade and quality. Most of the work was done by men using shovels and wheelbarrows. The furnace had to be manually loaded at a precise rate. The operations were finicky, requiring constant attention and accuracy. The company quickly set up an intensive research program to improve the process.