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Cliffs to Idle Three Iron Ore Pellet Furnaces
10/29/2008 - Cliffs Natural Resources is initiating production curtailments on two small pellet furnaces at Northshore Mining and on a small pellet furnace at United Taconite, two of the company’s six North American iron ore mines.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. has initiated production curtailments at Northshore Mining and United Taconite, both in Minnesota, two of the company’s six North American iron ore mines.
At Northshore, Cliffs will temporarily idle two small pellet furnaces, and at United Taconite, it will idle a small pellet furnace. On a combined basis, the three furnaces have monthly pellet production capacity of approximately 300,000 tons. Cliffs indicated that the curtailments were necessary to bring production levels in line with demand.
“We have seen the steel market soften in recent weeks due to the slowdown in the North American economy,” said Donald J. Gallagher, President of Cliffs’ North American Business Unit. “Today, the domestic steel and iron ore industries are better positioned than in the past to weather downturns such as this, and while we regret having to take this action, production and demand must be balanced to meet customer needs and to ensure the continued health of the business.”
Cliffs will begin idling the furnaces immediately, which will result in workforce adjustments at the affected locations.
Cliffs indicated its Northshore Mining and United Taconite operations have the capacity to produce nearly 6 million tons and 5.5 million tons, respectively, of iron ore pellets per year. With the curtailment, Cliffs expects 2008 equity production from its North American Iron Ore unit to drop to approximately 23 million tons.
Headquartered in Cleveland, Cliffs Natural Resources 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 is also majority owner 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.
