Cleveland-Cliffs Completes Pinnacle Mine Longwall Move
10/25/2007 - Cleveland-Cliffs resumes normal production at Pinnacle Mine after completing the move of its longwall plow system because of sandstone intrusions in the coal panel.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has resumed normal production at its Pinnacle Mine in Pineville, W.Va., after completing the move of its longwall plow system.
The decision to move the mine’s longwall plow system to another panel was prompted by a production slowdown that began in August when crews encountered sandstone intrusions in the coal panel that was being mined at the time.
Following completion of the longwall move, Cliffs updated its total metallurgical coal production forecast for all three of its U.S. metallurgical coal mines—Pinnacle, Green Ridge and Oak Grove—to 1.1 million tons for the last five months of 2007. This compares to a previous forecast of 2 million tons.
Cleveland-Cliffs assumed ownership of Pinnacle and the other mines on July 31, 2007 upon closing its acquisition of PinnOak Resources, LLC.
The company said it will provide a more detailed discussion of any impact when it reports third-quarter and nine-month financial results on Thursday, November 1, 2007.
Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs is an international mining company, the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, and a major supplier of metallurgical coal to the global steelmaking industry. The company operates six iron ore mines in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada, and three coking coal mines in West Virginia and Alabama. Cliffs also owns 80% of Portman Limited, a large iron ore mining company in Australia, serving the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore. In addition, the company has a 30% interest in the Amapá Project, a Brazilian iron ore project, and a 45% economic interest in the Sonoma Project, an Australian coking and thermal coal project.
