Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CCI, formerly Cliffs Natural Resources) is an American steel manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. They specialize in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. The company was the world's 25th-largest steel producer and the third-largest in the United States in 2022. It is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America.[3]
Cleveland-Cliffs manages and operates four iron ore mines in Minnesota and two mines in Michigan, one of which, the Empire Mine, has been indefinitely idled.[3] 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 well as Direct Reduced (DR) grade pellets for use in Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) applications. Since 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. During 2020, 2019 and 2018, the company sold 12 million, 19 million and 21 million long tons of iron ore product, respectively, to third parties.[3]
The company operates a Hot-Briquetted Iron (HBI) facility in Toledo, Ohio. HBI is a form of DRI that can be used as an alternative to scrap iron. When used as a feedstock, HBI can enable an electric arc furnace to produce more valuable grades of steel.[3]
The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847 and chartered as a company by Michigan in 1850.[4][5]Samuel Mather and six Ohio-based associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Soon afterwards, the first Soo Locks opened in 1855, allowing iron ore to be shipped from Lake Superior to Lake Erie.
Technological improvements, such as the Bessemer process, made it possible for the North American Great Lakes to produce steel on an industrial scale. The south shore of Lake Erie was near a supply of coal, making that region an efficient point for the construction of steel mills.
In the late 1800s, the company expanded via acquisitions to gain market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.
The company invested substantially to improve the logistics of iron-ore transport. In 1892, the firm built the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad to carry iron ore from the mines directly to company-owned docks on Lake Superior.
20th century
William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board from 1890 to 1947, participating in the transition from the hard-rock iron ore of Upper Michigan to the soft hematite of Minnesota's Mesabi Range and adjacent lodes.
Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The 618-foot-long (188m)SS. William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper lakes.
Demand for American iron ore hit peaks during World War I, World War II, and the post-World War II consumer boom. In 1933, Edward B. Greene (the son-in-law of Jeptha Homer Wade II) replaced William G. Mather as the head of the company. The Mather A Mine opened in the early 1940s and the Mather B shaft in the 1950s. As the Cold War continued, reserves of mineable hematite dwindled in northern Minnesota and Cleveland-Cliffs returned some of its focus to its traditional areas of interest around the Marquette Iron Range, where new deposits of magnetite were opened. The first pellet plant was built at Eagle Mills in 1954, followed by the first grate/kiln plant at the Humboldt Mine in 1960. The Republic Mine was converted from a shaft mine to an open pit and concentrator in 1956 and a two-kiln pellet plant was added in 1962. The Empire Mine opened in 1963[7] and was expanded in the mid- and late-1970s; the Pioneer Pellet Plant was opened in 1965 to pelletize the underground ore from the Mather B Mine in Negaunee, Michigan. In 1974, the Tilden Mine opened in Ishpeming, Michigan. This mine was and is the only mine in the world with the ability to produce both hematite and magnetite pellets.[7]
In 1970, a high-grade iron-ore mine was opened at Pannawonica in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with a 200km (120mi) rail line to processing facilities at Cape Lambert for which the residential township of Wickham was built. A pellet plant was built but ceased operation before 1980, following a sharp increase in the cost of diesel fuel.
During the 1970s, Cleveland-Cliffs had large interests in uranium and shale oil fields, as well as the oil and gas drilling industries. It also had holdings in the forest products industry. This interests were sold in the 1980s when the company refocused its efforts on its core iron ore business.[5]
After the recessions of 1974–1975 and 1981–1983, Cleveland-Cliffs shrank its operations, closing the Mather B Mine and the Pioneer Pellet Plant and associated Ore Improvement Plant in 1979. The Humboldt Pellet Plant closed in 1981 and the Republic Mine was idled in 1981 and closed for good in 1996, when Cliffs began turning the associated tailings ponds into compensatory wetlands for its other properties. Over half of the Marquette Iron Range employees were laid off and, in 1984, Cliffs withdrew from the Great Lakes shipping industry.
In early 2001, Cleveland-Cliffs managed LTV Steel Mining Company permanently closed in the wake of Ling-Temco-Vought's bankruptcy. Later that year, the company cut its dividend by 73% due to low prices.[8] In 2002, Ling-Temco-Vought, a partner in the Empire Mine managed by CCI, closed and the Empire Mine was idled for six months.[9] President George W. Bush enacted the 2002 United States steel tariff that greatly benefitted domestically-produced steel. Benefitting from the tariff, the company embarked upon a strategy to expand globally and to diversify into other minerals, leading to the acquisitions of iron-ore properties in Brazil, Canada and Australia and coal properties in Australia and the US.[7] In 2003, the company, in a joint venture with Laiwu Steel, purchased the assets of bankrupt Eveleth Mines and formed United Taconite LLC.[10] In 2008, it acquired the full ownership for $100 million in cash and 1,529,619 common shares.[11][12]
In June 2007, the company acquired PinnOak, its first domestic coal company, which mined coal in Alabama and West Virginia and once belonged to U.S. Steel.[13] Due to its venture into coal, the company changed its name from Cleveland-Cliffs to Cliffs Natural Resources in October 2008.[14] In 2008, the company agreed to acquire Alpha Natural Resources but called off the transaction in November 2008 due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. It paid a $70 million breakup fee.[15]
In January 2010, the company acquired Freewest Resources Canada for C$240 million, giving it 100% ownership of the Black Thor and Black Label, and 47% ownership of the Big Daddy chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire district in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario, Canada.[16] In July 2010, Cliffs increased its ownership stake in Big Daddy by acquiring Spider Resources for C$125 million. In 2015, these assets were sold to rival Noront Resources, owner of a minority stake in Big Daddy, for US$20 million.[17]
In May 2011, the company acquired Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines from Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation for C$4.9 billion. The acquisition included Bloom Lake iron ore mine in Quebec.[18][19] On May 5, 2011, the company was added to the Fortune 500. Its ranking of 477 was based on the company's performance in 2010.[20]
The ArcelorMittal mill at Burns Harbor was purchased by Cleveland-Cliffs in 2020.
in July 2013, CEO Joseph Carrabba announced that he would retire by December 31, 2013. Lead director James Kirsch was elected non-executive chairperson in his stead.[21] Gary Halverson, formerly interim chief operating officer of Barrick Gold, was appointed president and chief operating officer in October 2013,[22] and president and chief executive officer in February 2014.[23] At the 2014 annual general meeting, six new directors nominated by activist hedge fund Casablanca Capital were elected, giving the fund control of the board of directors.[24] Lourenco Goncalves was appointed chairman, president and CEO of the company.[25] The reconstituted Board moved to shift the company's strategic objectives from global diversification to a renewed focus on strengthening its U.S. iron ore business.
In December 2015, the company sold its remaining North American coal operations.[26] Cliffs announced plans in early 2016 to close the Empire Mine near Marquette, Michigan, terminating the jobs of approximately 400 workers.[27] The company announced on August 15, 2017, that it was returning to its former brand name, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.[28] In August 2018, the company sold its Asia Pacific iron ore assets.[29] It also sold its Australian assets.[30]
On March 13, 2020, the company acquired AK Steel Holding for $1.1 billion.[31][32][33] In December 2020, the company acquired the United States operations of ArcelorMittal for approximately $1.4 billion, making it the largest producer of flat-rolled steel and iron ore pellets in North America.[34][35][36]
In February 2022, Cleveland-Cliffs agreed to pay a $3 million settlement related to Clean Water Act violations, including a cyanide and ammonia spill in August 2019 that killed thousands of fish and closed Lake Michigan beaches. After the settlement, Cleveland-Cliffs stated it would change its water testing and public announcement procedures.[37]
On July 28, 2023, Cleveland-Cliffs executives sent a proposal to U.S. Steel CEO David Burnett, to acquire the company for a total enterprise value of $10 billion, in a cash and stock deal.[38] The proposal has been endorsed by the United Steelworkers,[39] but was rejected by US Steel on August 13.[40] Ultimately, Cleveland-Cliffs failed to purchase U.S. Steel as the company agreed to be acquired by Japan's Nippon Steel instead for $14.9 billion.[41]
On July 15, 2024, Cleveland-Cliffs announced that it would acquire Stelco, a Canadian steel manufacturer, for $2.5 billion in cash and stock.[42]
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe 3O 4, 72.4% Fe), hematite (Fe 2O 3, 69.9% Fe), goethite (FeO(OH), 62.9% Fe), limonite (FeO(OH)·n(H2O), 55% Fe), or siderite (FeCO3, 48.2% Fe).
The Mesabi Iron Range is a mining district and mountain range in northeastern Minnesota following an elongate trend containing large deposits of iron ore. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. First described in 1866, it is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States. The district is located largely in Itasca and Saint Louis counties. It has been extensively worked since 1892, and has seen a transition from high-grade direct shipping ores through gravity concentrates to the current industry exclusively producing iron ore (taconite) pellets. Production has been dominantly controlled by vertically integrated steelmakers since 1901, and therefore is dictated largely by US ironmaking capacity and demand.
Taconite is a variety of banded iron formation, an iron-bearing sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate. The name taconyte was coined by Horace Vaughn Winchell (1865–1923) – son of Newton Horace Winchell, the Minnesota state geologist – during their pioneering investigations of the Precambrian Biwabik Iron Formation of northeastern Minnesota. He believed the sedimentary rock sequence hosting the iron-formation was correlative with the Taconic orogeny of New England, and referred to the unfamiliar and as-yet-unnamed iron-bearing rock as the 'taconic rock' or taconyte.
The Iron Range is collectively or individually a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants Range batholith. These cherty iron ore deposits are Precambrian in the Vermilion Range and middle Precambrian in the Mesabi and Cuyuna ranges, all in Minnesota. The Gogebic Range in Wisconsin and the Marquette Iron Range and Menominee Range in Michigan have similar characteristics and are of similar age. Natural ores and concentrates were produced from 1848 until the mid-1950s, when taconites and jaspers were concentrated and pelletized, and started to become the major source of iron production.
Vale, formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, is a Brazilian multinational corporation engaged in metals and mining and one of the largest logistics operators in Brazil. Vale is the largest producer of iron ore and nickel in the world. It also produces manganese, ferroalloys, copper, bauxite, potash, kaolin, and cobalt; as of 2014 the company operated nine hydroelectricity plants, and a large network of railroads, ships, and ports used to transport its products.
Iron Ore Company of Canada is a Canadian-based producer of iron ore. The company was founded in 1949 from a partnership of Canadian and American firms, the largest being the M.A. Hanna Company. It is now owned by a consortium that includes the Mitsubishi and Rio Tinto corporations. Rio Tinto is the majority shareholder in the venture, with 58.7% of the joint stock as of October 2013. Mitsubishi controlled 26.2% of the investment as of March 2013.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is Ukraine's largest integrated steel company, founded in 1934 and located in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine.
Severstal is a Russian company mainly operating in the steel and mining industry, headquartered in Cherepovets. Severstal is listed on the Moscow Exchange and LSE and is the largest steel company in Russia. The company is majority-owned and controlled by billionaire Alexey Mordashov.
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second largest steel producer in the world, with an annual crude steel production of 78 million metric tonnes as of 2022. It is ranked 197th in the 2022 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's largest corporations. It employs around 154,000 people and its market capital is $20 billion. The total value of company assets is estimated to be around $94 billion.
The Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota, United States, is the largest operating open-pit iron mine in Minnesota. The pit stretches more than three miles (5 km) long, two miles (3 km) wide, and 535 feet (163 m) deep. It was established in 1895 and was one of the world's first mechanized open-pit mines.
M. A. Hanna Company was an iron ore processing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
Samuel Livingston Mather was an American industrialist and philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio. He co-founded Pickands Mather and Company, a shipping and iron mining company which dominated these two Great Lakes industries from 1900 to 1960. For many years Mather was that city's richest citizen and a major philanthropist, contributing more than US$7 million to community-based organizations in the city.
The Marquette Iron Range is a deposit of iron ore located in Marquette County, Michigan in the United States. The towns of Ishpeming and Negaunee developed as a result of mining this deposit. A smaller counterpart of Minnesota's Mesabi Range, this is one of two iron ranges in the Lake Superior basin that are in active production as of 2018. The iron ore of the Marquette Range has been mined continuously from 1847 until the present day. Marquette Iron Range is the deposit's popular and commercial name; it is also known to geologists as the Negaunee Iron Formation.
The Cleveland Mine Engine House Number 3, also known as the Brownstone Engine House, is a building located at 601 Division Street in Ishpeming, Michigan. It was built to house engines hoisting ore from various Cleveland Mine locales, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Elcor is a ghost town, or more properly, an extinct town, in the U.S. state of Minnesota that was inhabited between 1897 and 1956. It was built on the Mesabi Iron Range near the city of Gilbert in St. Louis County. Elcor was its own unincorporated community before it was abandoned and was never a neighborhood proper of the city of Gilbert. Not rating a figure in the national census, the people of Elcor were only generally considered to be citizens of Gilbert. The area where Elcor was located was annexed by Gilbert when its existing city boundaries were expanded after 1969.
Iron mining in the United States produced 48 million metric tons of iron ore in 2019. Iron ore was the third-highest-value metal mined in the United States, after gold and copper. Iron ore was mined from nine active mines and three reclamation operations in Michigan, Minnesota, and Utah. Most of the iron ore was mined in northern Minnesota's Mesabi Range. Net exports were 3.9 million tons. US iron ore made up 2.5 percent of the total mined worldwide in 2015. Employment as of 2014 was 5,750 in iron mines and iron ore treatment plants.
The Pickands Mather Group is an American company which provides shipping of coal and other bulk commodities, and the purchase, sale, and marketing of bulk coal. Founded in 1883 as Pickands Mather & Company, it once had the second largest shipping fleet on the Great Lakes in the 1910s and 1920s. The company was purchased by the Diamond Shamrock Corporation in 1968, which in turn sold it to the Moore-McCormack Resources in 1973. Moore-McCormack sold Pickands Mather's mining interests to Cleveland-Cliffs in 1986. Moore-McCormack then spun off the Interlake Steamship Company to James Barker and Paul R. Tregurtha in 1987. Pickands Mather was sold to a management group in 1992, and continues to operate as a private company.
The Atlantic City Mine Railroad was a private carrier mine railroad that operated in Wyoming from 1962 until 1983. Owned and operated by U.S. Steel, the railroad extended 76.7 miles from a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad in southwestern Wyoming to an iron ore mine north of Atlantic City, Wyoming. One notable aspect of the railroad was its crossing of the Continental Divide at South Pass, Wyoming. Another was the railroad's use of EMD F7 locomotives, often in A-B-B-B-B-A configurations, painted in U.S. Steel's own yellow and black livery.
Fire Lake is a lake in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It was the location of a major open pit mining operation in the 1970s and 1980s. Operations were then suspended for twenty years, but ArcelorMittal resumed extraction in 2006.
Edward Belden Greene was an American banking, mining, and steel company executive. He joined the Cleveland Trust Company in 1900, and by 1914 was a vice president. He later was a director and chairman of its executive committee, and served on state and federal emergency credit and banking organizations during the Great Depression. He left in 1933 to become chairman of the board of directors of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Mining Company. He oversaw the purchase of Corrigan, McKinney Steel, and later its sale.
↑ Reynolds, Terry S.; Dawson, Virginia P. (2011). Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-2006. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p.40. ISBN978-0-8143-3511-6.
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$22.0 billion (2023) [1] 
$8.122 billion (2023)
