Cliffs Announces Receipt of "True-up" Payments from Essar Steel Algoma
01/07/2011 - Cliffs Natural Resources announces the receipt of $129 million in "true-up" payments from Essar Steel Algoma related to the portion of revenue from 2010 pellet sales that were disputed in a previously disclosed arbitration.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced the receipt of $129 million in "true-up" payments from Essar Steel Algoma, Inc. Announced on Wednesday by Essar Steel Algoma, the payments are related to the portion of revenue from 2010 pellet sales that were disputed in a previously disclosed arbitration.
Cliffs noted that despite the cash payment, Essar Steel Algoma is maintaining a court application to vacate the arbitration award, which Cliffs is vigorously contesting.
Cliffs also indicated that Essar Steel Algoma has agreed to pay a provisional per-ton rate determined through the arbitration process for all 2011 shipments until final pricing is determined through its supply agreement.
Cliffs Natural Resources, an international mining and natural resources company, is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia, and a significant producer of high and low volatile metallurgical coal. The company is organized through three geographic business units:
The North American business unit comprises six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Canada and six coal mines located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit comprises two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The Latin American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapá Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapá in Brazil.
Other projects under development include a biomass production plant in Michigan and Ring of Fire chromite properties in Ont., Canada. Over recent years, Cliffs has been executing a strategy designed to achieve scale in the mining industry and focused on serving the world's largest and fastest growing steel markets.
