Public | |
Traded as | : CLF |
Industry | Iron ore |
Founded |
Cleveland, Ohio, United States (1846) as Cleveland Iron Company |
Founder | Samuel Mather and associates |
Headquarters | 200 Public Square, Cleveland, USA |
Key people
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Products | iron ore |
Revenue | US$ 1.3 bil (FY 2014) |
Total assets | US$ 1.4 bil (FY 2014) |
Website | www |
Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc., formerly Cliffs Natural Resources, is a Cleveland, Ohio, business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore. The firm is an independent company whose shares are traded on the . Cleveland-Cliffs' primary operations are organized and managed according to product category and geographic location: U.S. iron ore, Eastern Canadian iron ore, Asia Pacific iron ore, and North American coal.
The company announced on August 15, 2017, it was dropping the Cliffs Natural Resources name and returning to its old brand name, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
Cleveland-Cliffs manages and operates five iron ore mines located in Michigan and Minnesota. These mines produce various grades of iron ore pellets, including standard and fluxed, for use in blast furnaces as part of the steelmaking process. As the mines are located near the Great Lakes, the majority of the pellets are transported by rail to loading ports for shipments via vessel to steelmakers in North America.
The U.S.-based mines currently have an annual rated capacity of 32.9 million gross tons of iron ore pellet production, representing 56 percent of total U.S. pellet production capacity. Based on equity ownership in these mines, Cliffs’ share of the annual rated production capacity is currently 25.5 million gross tons, representing 44 percent of total U.S. annual pellet capacity.
During 2014, 2013, and 2012, Cleveland-Cliffs sold 21.8 million, 21.3 million and 21.6 million tons of iron ore pellets, respectively, from its share of the production from its U.S. Iron Ore mines.
Cleveland-Cliffs had operated two iron ore mines located in Eastern Canada. On February 11, 2014 it was announced that one of the mines, in Wabush, Labrador, would lay off 500 workers due to falling global demand. Subsequently, both mines were idled and closed in 2014 and early 2015 due to unsustainable high cost structures, representing a complete curtailment of the company’s Eastern Canadian iron ore operations. In December 2015, Champion Iron Ltd announced its intention to purchase Bloom Lake's Mine and rail assets.
The mines had produced concentrate and iron ore pellet products marketed towards Asian steelmakers with sintering capabilities at their operations. Located near the St. Lawrence River estuary, the products had been transported by railroads to loading ports for shipment via vessel to steelmakers in North America, or the international seaborne market.