Cleveland-Cliffs Announces Private Placement of $325 Million of Senior Notes

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CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE: CLF) announced that, effective today, it has closed on two tranches of senior notes totaling $325 million.

The privately placed offering consisted of $270 million 6.31% Five-Year Senior Notes due June 15, 2013, and $55 million 6.59% Seven-Year Senior Notes due June 15, 2015. Interest will be paid on the notes for both tranches on December 15, and June 15, until their respective maturities. Interest and principal amounts are guaranteed on a senior basis by certain domestic subsidiaries of the Company. The Company will use the proceeds to repay senior unsecured indebtedness and for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions.

Laurie Brlas, Cliffs' executive vice president and chief financial officer, said, "The placements enhance Cliffs' financial flexibility and will allow us to quickly act on opportunities to grow our business as they arise."

The notes and guarantees are not required to be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and have been placed with qualified institutional investors.

The notes were offered to qualified institutional buyers. The senior notes offered and related guarantees have not been registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy such senior notes.

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Cleveland-Cliffs Inc, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is an international mining company, the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America and a major supplier of metallurgical coal to the global steelmaking industry. The Company operates six iron ore mines in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada, and three coking coal mines in West Virginia and Alabama. Cliffs also owns 80 percent of Portman Limited, a large iron ore mining company in Australia, serving the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore. In addition, the Company has a 30 percent interest in the Amapa Project, a Brazilian iron ore project, and a 45 percent economic interest in the Sonoma Project, an Australian coking and thermal coal project.

This news release contains predictive statements that are intended to be made as "forward-looking" within the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the Company believes that its forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are subject to risk and uncertainties.

Actual results may differ materially from such statements for a variety of reasons, including: changes in the sales mix; the impact of other price-adjustment factors on the Company's North American sales contracts; changes in demand for iron ore pellets by North American integrated steel producers, or changes in Asian iron ore demand due to changes in steel utilization rates, operational factors, electric furnace production or imports into the United States and Canada of semi-finished steel or pig iron; availability of capital equipment and component parts; availability of float capacity on the Great Lakes; changes in the financial condition of the Company's partners and/or customers; market forces that negatively impact the domestic and international metallurgical coal markets; changes in global demand for metallurgical coal by integrated steel producers due to changes in steel utilization rates; rejection of major contracts and/or venture agreements by customers and/or participants under provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code or similar statutes in other countries; the impact of consolidation in the steel industry; events or circumstances that could impair or adversely impact the viability of a mine and the carrying value of associated assets; inability to achieve expected production levels; failure to receive or maintain required environmental permits; problems with productivity, labor disputes, weather conditions, fluctuations in ore grade, tons mined, changes in cost factors including energy costs, transportation and employee benefit costs; and the effect of these various risks on the Company's future cash flows, debt levels, liquidity and financial position.

Reference is also made to the detailed explanation of the many factors and risks that may cause such predictive statements to turn out differently, set forth in the Company's Annual Report and Reports on Form 10-K and previous news releases filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are publicly available on Cleveland-Cliffs' website. The information contained in this document speaks as of the date of this news release and may be superseded by subsequent events.

News releases and other information on the Company are available on the Internet at: http://www.cleveland-cliffs.com.

Source: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc

Released June 26, 2008