Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Selected as a Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes Leader

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) today announced its inclusion in two of the inaugural Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (CIIs) launched by Bloomberg in January 2010. The Maplecroft CIIs, calculated by Bloomberg and based upon evaluations by country and corporate risk intelligence firm Maplecroft, ranks the top-performing U.S. companies in terms of climate-related innovation and carbon management programs. In addition to its listing in the Maplecroft CII index (Bloomberg: CICOMP), which narrows an initial set of the approximately 800 largest stocks to the top-performing 300 stocks based on their engagement in public climate-related programs, Cliffs was also ranked in the Maplecroft CII Leader (Bloomberg: CII) index as one of the 100 top-performing companies from the Maplecroft CII index.

"We are pleased that Cliffs has been recognized by Maplecroft and Bloomberg for its efforts in addressing the complex issue of climate change," said Joseph A. Carrabba, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cliffs. "As the Company continues its growth in the international mining and natural resources industry, we remain committed to developing fair and sustainable solutions that balance risks to the environment, our economy, our nation and our world."

The Maplecroft CIIs were compiled through a climate screen of all U.S. companies ($1 billion or more in market capitalization) against more than 100 different criteria. Stocks were rated using varied sources, including Web sites, sustainability reports, investor presentations and UN Global Compact Communications on Progress, and supported by third-party stakeholder viewpoints and direct engagement with the companies. Maplecroft's global risk indices were also used to understand wider climate change risk exposures across the entire company.

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http://www.cpg-llc.com/clearsite/clf/emailoptin.html

ABOUT CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INC.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is an international mining and natural resources company. A member of the S&P 500 Index, we are the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia and a significant producer of metallurgical coal. With core values of environmental and capital stewardship, our colleagues across the globe endeavor to provide all stakeholders operating and financial transparency as embodied in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Our Company is organized through three geographic business units:

The North American business unit is comprised of six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Canada and two coking coal mining complexes located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit is comprised of two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The Latin American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapa Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapa in Brazil.

Other projects under development include a biomass fuel production plant in Michigan and Ring of Fire chromite properties in Ontario, Canada. Over recent years, Cliffs has been executing a strategy designed to achieve scale in the mining industry and focused on serving the world's largest and fastest growing steel markets.

News releases and other information on the Company are available on the Internet at:

http://www.cliffsnaturalresources.com or

www.cliffsnaturalresources.com/Investors/Pages/default.aspx?b=1041&1=1.

Follow Cliffs on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CliffsIR.

    Source: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Released March 8, 2010