CLEVELAND, March 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cliffs
Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) announced today
that it will be restarting iron ore pellet production at its
Northshore Mining operation in Minnesota by May 15,
2016. The Company is taking such action based on its
domestic customers' demand for iron ore pellets and consistent with
its previously announced production plans for the year.
Cliffs' Northshore Mining iron ore operation is comprised of a
mine and a taconite pellet processing facility located in
Minnesota. The operation employs
approximately 540 employees. Cliffs is also operating at normal
rates at its Hibbing Taconite mine in Minnesota, as well as the Tilden and Empire mines in Michigan. Cliffs' United Taconite operations
in Minnesota are currently
idled.
Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs'
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The
avalanche of unfairly traded steel hitting the U.S. since last year
negatively affected our clients' production levels and, as a
consequence, affected us. At this time, with the trade cases
approaching their final stages and preliminary duties being
announced, the volume of unfairly traded steel is starting to
subside. As our clients' order books improve and their need for
pellets approach more normal levels, we are pleased to announce
that we are bringing back to work our dedicated employees at
Northshore." Mr. Goncalves added: "In 2015, Cliffs developed at
Northshore Mining a new product, the DR-grade pellets used as
feedstock to DRI production. As we restart operations at Northshore
in May, we will also resume the production of DR-grade pellets
destined to EAF clients."
In accordance with Cliffs' 2016 full-year anticipated USIO
production volume of 16 million tons, the Company is maintaining
its previous cash production cost per ton expectations for 2016 at
$50 to $55 per ton and its cash cost
of goods sold expectation is $55 to
$60 per ton.
About Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.
Cliffs Natural
Resources Inc. is a leading mining and natural resources company in
the United States. The Company is
a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel
industry from its mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. Cliffs also operates an iron ore
mining complex in Western
Australia. Driven by the core values of safety, social,
environmental and capital stewardship, Cliffs' employees endeavor
to provide all stakeholders operating and financial
transparency.
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: trends affecting our financial condition; results of
operations or future prospects, particularly the continued
volatility of iron ore prices; availability of capital and our
ability to maintain adequate liquidity, in particular considering
borrowing base reductions from the sale of non-core assets such as
North American Coal; 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, which could prevent us from fulfilling our debt
obligations; continued weaknesses in global economic conditions,
including downward pressure on prices caused by oversupply or
imported products, including the impact of any reduced barriers to
trade, recently filed and forthcoming trade cases, reduced market
demand and any change to the economic growth rate in China; our ability to reach agreement with our
iron ore customers regarding any modifications to sales contract
provisions, renewals or new arrangements; uncertainty relating to
restructurings in the steel industry and/or affecting the steel
industry; our ability to maintain appropriate relations with unions
and employees and enter into or renew collective bargaining
agreements on satisfactory terms; the impact of our customers
reducing their steel production or using other methods to produce
steel; our ability to successfully execute an exit option for our
Canadian Entities that minimizes the cash outflows and associated
liabilities of such entities, including the Companies' Creditors
Arrangement Act (Canada) process;
our ability to successfully identify and consummate any strategic
investments and complete planned divestitures; our ability to
successfully diversify our product mix and add new customers beyond
our traditional blast furnace clientele; 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; the impact of price-adjustment factors on our sales
contracts; changes in sales volume or mix; our actual levels of
capital spending; our actual economic iron ore reserves or
reductions in current mineral estimates, including whether any
mineralized material qualifies as a reserve; 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; the results of prefeasibility and
feasibility studies in relation to projects; impacts of existing
and increasing governmental laws and 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; our ability to cost-effectively
achieve planned production rates or levels; 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; availability of
capital equipment and component parts; the potential existence of
significant deficiencies or material weakness in our internal
control over financial reporting; problems or uncertainties with
productivity, tons mined, transportation, mine-closure obligations
or costs, environmental liabilities, employee-benefit costs and
other risks of the mining industry; and the risk factors identified
in Part I - Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2015. The
information contained herein speaks as of the date of this release
and may be superseded by subsequent events. Except as may be
required by applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any
obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements
contained in this release.
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SOURCE Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.