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Cliffs Plans Expansion Project at Empire and Tilden Mines
07/14/2008 - Cleveland-Cliffs Board approves a capital project that will expand capacity at its Empire and Tilden mines in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc announced that its Board of Directors has approved a capital project at its Empire and Tilden mines in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The project is expected to allow the Empire Mine to produce at three million tons annually through 2017 and increase Tilden Mine production by more than two million tons annually. This incremental production—which will require approximately $290 million of incremental capital investment—is expected to result in total equity production of over 23 million tons annually for the company’s North American Iron Ore business segment. Cliffs said its Empire Mine was previously projected to exhaust reserves in early 2011.
Cliffs will use the excess processing capacity at Empire to process additional ore that it will mine from its Tilden Mine, located adjacent to Empire. Utilization of this capacity will enable Tilden to increase production to more than 10 million tons annually. Tilden Mine currently has an annual rated capacity of nearly eight million tons, with an expected mine life exceeding 30 years.
“Expanding our North American iron ore mining capacity will allow Cliffs to benefit from the strong market environment for steelmaking raw materials,” commented Joseph A. Carrabba, Cliffs’ Chairman, President and CEO. “Moreover, any pellet production volume in excess of our supply agreement commitments could be sold on the spot market at very attractive price levels.”
Cliffs indicated project work is expected to start this year, with the majority of capital expenditures to occur in 2009.
Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. 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 85% 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.
