Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Announces Acquisition of Real Estate Interests in Itasca County, Minnesota

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CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (“Cliffs” or the “Company”) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cleveland-Cliffs Minnesota Land Development LLC, completed an acquisition of certain real estate interests located in Itasca County west of Nashwauk, Minnesota from Glacier Park Iron Ore Properties LLC (“GPIOP”). The interests include a combination of undivided and whole fee interests as well as mineral and surface leases, all lying within the Biwabik Iron Formation. The acreage acquired is approximately 553 acres and the acreage being leased is approximately 3,215 acres.

Cliffs expects to be able to leverage the acquired real estate interests to develop a financially sustainable plan for the site, which may be considered as other iron ore resources deplete. The purchased properties include parcels that were formerly leased by GPIOP to Mesabi Metallics Company LLC (“Mesabi Metallics”), formerly known as Essar Steel Minnesota. Mesabi Metallics’ lease rights terminated on October 31, 2017 when it failed to exit bankruptcy in connection with Chippewa’s inability to timely secure funding and other consents for its plan to take Mesabi Metallics out of bankruptcy at that time.

Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are enthused about the acquisition of this property, which came into play after Chippewa failed to follow through on its obligation to obtain financing and a bankruptcy exit for Mesabi Metallics by October 31. Despite several botched attempts by others, it is now the time for Cleveland-Cliffs to sit at the table with other responsible parties and develop a realistic solution for this site.” Mr. Goncalves added: “Cleveland-Cliffs has been in Minnesota for 115 years, and we currently employ approximately 1,750 people in three separate mining and pelletizing operations throughout the state. As the new owner of this real estate, we know our responsibilities and will not disappoint the people of Minnesota.”

About Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Founded in 1847, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is the largest and oldest independent iron ore mining company in the United States. We are a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from our mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. Additionally, we operate an iron ore mining complex in Western Australia. By 2020, Cliffs expects to be the sole producer of hot briquetted iron (HBI) in the Great Lakes region with the development of its first production plant in Toledo, Ohio. Driven by the core values of safety, social, environmental and capital stewardship, our employees endeavor to provide all stakeholders with operating and financial transparency. For more information, visit http://www.clevelandcliffs.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. As a general matter, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated trends and expectations rather than historical matters. Forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties and factors relating to Cliffs’ operations and business environment that are difficult to predict and may be beyond our control. Such uncertainties and factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no ongoing obligation, other than that imposed by law, to update these statements. Uncertainties and risk factors that could affect Cliffs’ future performance and cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to: uncertainty and weaknesses in global economic conditions, including downward pressure on prices caused by oversupply or imported products, the impact of any reduced barriers to trade, the outcomes of recently filed and forthcoming trade cases, reduced market demand and any change to the economic growth rate in China; continued volatility of iron ore and steel prices and other trends, including the supply approach of the major iron ore producers, affecting our financial condition, results of operations or future prospects—specifically, the impact of price-adjustment factors on our sales contracts; our level of indebtedness could limit cash flow available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes or ongoing needs of our business; availability of capital and our ability to maintain adequate liquidity; our ability to successfully conclude the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) process in a manner that minimizes cash outflows and associated liabilities; the impact of our customers’ reducing their steel production due to increased market share of steel produced using other methods or lighter-weight steel alternatives; uncertainty relating to restructurings in the steel industry and/or affecting the steel industry; the outcome of any contractual disputes with our customers, joint venture partners or significant energy, material or service providers or any other litigation or arbitration; the ability of our customers and joint venture partners to meet their obligations to us on a timely basis or at all; problems or uncertainties with productivity, tons mined, transportation, mine-closure obligations, environmental liabilities, employee-benefit costs and other risks of the mining industry; our ability to reach agreement with our customers regarding any modifications to sales contract provisions, renewals or new arrangements; our actual levels of capital spending; our ability to successfully diversify our product mix and add new customers beyond our traditional blast furnace clientele; our actual economic iron ore reserves or reductions in current mineral estimates, including whether any mineralized material qualifies as a reserve; our ability to cost-effectively achieve planned production rates or levels, including at our HBI production plant; our ability to successfully identify and consummate any strategic investments or development projects, including our HBI production plant; our ability to obtain the investments necessary for our HBI production plant; changes in sales volume or mix; events or circumstances that could impair or adversely impact the viability of a mine and the carrying value of associated assets, as well as any resulting impairment charges; our ability to maintain appropriate relations with unions and employees; impacts of existing and increasing governmental regulation and related costs and liabilities, including failure to receive or maintain required operating and environmental permits, approvals, modifications or other authorization of, or from, any governmental or regulatory entity and costs related to implementing improvements to ensure compliance with regulatory changes; uncertainties associated with natural disasters, weather conditions, unanticipated geological conditions, supply or price of energy, equipment failures and other unexpected events; adverse changes in currency values, currency exchange rates, interest rates and tax laws; risks related to international operations; the potential existence of significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting; and our ability to complete our notes offerings on terms that are commercially attractive to us or at all.

For additional factors affecting the business of Cliffs, refer to Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. You are urged to carefully consider these risk factors.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Patricia Persico, 216-694-5316
Director, Corporate Communications
OR
INVESTOR CONTACT:
Paul Finan, 216-694-6544
Director, Investor Relations

Source: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Released December 11, 2017