Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. sought creditor protection in Canada for its Bloom Lake iron ore mine, potentially cutting the cost of closing it down, Bloomberg News reported. Bloom Lake General Partner Ltd. and certain affiliates started restructuring proceedings in Montreal under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Cliffs said in a statement on Tuesday. Cliffs, the largest U.S. iron ore producer, has been looking at options to sell Bloom Lake for several months and said earlier this month it suspended production there amid a slump in prices.

A group of Canadian and other investments banks agreed to pay a total of 32.5 million Canadian dollars (US$26.1 million) to settle claims related to their role as underwriters to help Sino-Forest Corp. sell stock, The Wall Street Journal reported. The dealers “do not admit any wrongdoing or liability” under the agreement, which would settle shareholder allegations that Sino-Forest’s public filings “contained false and misleading statements about [its] financial results, assets, business and transactions,” according to a copy of the pact filed with the Ontario Superior court.

Canadian wireless startup Mobilicity said on Tuesday it will participate in an upcoming government auction of airwaves. The struggling wireless carrier, which sought creditor protection in the fall of 2013, has been trying unsuccessfully to find a buyer for months after its attempts to sell to well-established rival Telus were stymied by the Canadian government, which is seeking to boost competition in the wireless sector.

Canadian oil exploration company Southern Pacific Resource Corp. has sought protection from creditors with an insolvency filing under Canada’s bankruptcy law, The Wall Street Journal reported. Southern Pacific Resource said Wednesday it determined that protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act was in its best interest, considering the world-wide low oil and gas prices and its own depressed levels of production. The company added that it has sufficient liquidity to last through its initial protection period in Canada, which expires Feb. 20.

Forecasting a major economic slowdown in the face of lower oil prices, the Bank of Canada unexpectedly cut its key lending rate on Wednesday, the International New York Times reported. The central bank reduced the overnight rate to 0.75 percent, from 1 percent. It is the first rate change since September 2010. The move comes as Canada deals with the consequences of lower oil prices, which are now around $48 a barrel. In recent weeks, domestic companies have announced a flurry of spending cuts and layoffs.

Target Corp will exit the Canadian market after less than two years in a surprise retreat that will throw more than 17,000 employees out of work and trigger a $5.4 billion quarterly loss. Shares of the U.S. discount retailer, which was granted creditor protection for its money-losing Canadian subsidiary, at one point rose more than 4 percent on the move. The stock was up 2.2 percent at $75.94 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Canada’s biggest banks are trying to quell investor concern about their exposures to the energy sector given the plunge in oil prices, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bank stocks have taken a beating on those worries with the S&P/TSX Composite Bank Index down about 8% year-to-date as of Wednesday afternoon, amid broader concerns about the potential impact on the Canadian economy of a prolonged slump in energy prices.

Alberta’s Premier said Tuesday that collapsing crude-oil prices will hurt the energy-rich Western Canadian province for “several years” and likely force his government to offset mounting deficits by cutting spending and raising taxes, The Wall Street Journal reported. “This is a challenging time for our province,” Alberta Premier Jim Prentice said at a news conference on Tuesday, referring to a drop in crude-oil prices to six-year lows. “This is the most significant public financial circumstance that we’ve seen in this province for a generation,” he said. Mr.

Victims of the Lac-Megantic oil-by-rail disaster that killed 47 people in the Canadian province of Quebec in 2013 agreed to a nearly $200 million settlement with some of the firms involved, including the insolvent rail operator at the center of the tragedy, a lawyer for the victims said on Friday. Montreal Maine and Atlantic (MMA), along with its insurers, founder Edward Burkhardt, and various other companies, will pay into the settlement fund, which will be distributed to the victims of the train derailment and explosion, lawyer Peter Flowers of Meyers & Flowers in Chicago told Reuters.

Canada’s Nortel Networks Corp. is appealing a U.S. court ruling that could put the bulk of the dissolved company’s cash into the hands of distressed-debt trading firms, The Wall Street Journal reported. The ruling under attack blessed a settlement between Nortel’s U.S. unit and investors who bought the company’s debt after its 2009 collapse. The pact allows bondholders to collect more than $1 billion in interest on their $4 billion holdings in the former telecommunications company.