Initially the steel mill at Trenton was fed by scrap metal and pig iron imported from Scotland however shortages in scrap saw the New Glasgow Iron, Coal and Railway Company construct an oxygen blast furnace at Ferrona in the upper reaches of the East River valley that would be supplied with iron ore mined at Eureka and Londonderry. Coke was supplied by local coal mines in Stellarton, Westville and Thorburn. These sources of iron ore were soon found to be high in manganese, thus higher quality iron ore was soon discovered at Wabana on Bell Island, Newfoundland which was then shipped to the Ferrona blast furnaces. In 1895, the New Glasgow Iron, Coal and Railway Company purchased rights to some of the Wabana ore deposit for a long-term supply.