April 19, 2006 — Trustees of the Mesabi Trust declared a distribution of $0.30 per Unit of Beneficial Interest payable on May 20, 2006 to Mesabi Trust unitholders of record at the close of business on April 30, 2006. This compares to a distribution of $0.33 per Unit for the same period last year.

The decrease in distribution is due largely to slightly lower prices and decreased shipments of iron ore pellets during the most recent quarter by Northshore Mining Co., the lessee/operator. The decreased prices and shipments resulted in decreased base royalties and a lower royalty bonus payment for iron ore shipments from Silver Bay, Minn.

On April 28, 2006, the Mesabi Trust expects to receive a total royalty payment of $4,210,047 (which includes the royalty received by the Mesabi Land Trust). With respect to shipments of iron ore during the first calendar quarter of 2006, Mesabi Trust received a base royalty of $437,131. The Trust also received a bonus royalty of $524,557 with respect to shipments during the first calendar quarter of 2006.

The Mesabi Trust also received payments of $1,336,220 representing final adjustments for 2004 shipments sold at 2005 pricing, and $1,776,316 based on estimated adjustments to 2005 pricing, which are subject to further adjustment in the future. These adjustment payments are lower than the amount of adjustments received a year ago. Such adjustments are pursuant to term contracts between Northshore, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (Northshore's parent) and certain of their customers (the CCI Pellet Agreements).

The volume of shipments of iron ore pellets by Northshore varies over time based on a number of factors, including weather conditions on the Great Lakes, the requested delivery schedules of customers and general economic conditions in the iron ore industry. Resulting royalties paid to the Trust are dependent on the volume of shipments of iron ore pellets for the quarter and the year-to-date, pricing of the iron ore product sales and the percentage of iron ore pellet shipments from Mesabi Trust lands rather than from other lands. In addition, the prices under the CCI Pellet Agreements are subject to interim and final pricing adjustments, dependent in part on multiple price and inflation index factors that are not known until after the end of a contract year. This can result in significant and frequent variations in royalties received by Mesabi Trust (and in turn the resulting amount available for distribution to Unitholders by the Trust) from quarter to quarter and on a comparative historical basis. Royalty payments received in 2005 continue to reflect pricing estimates for shipments of iron ore products that may be subject to further adjustment (upward or downward) pursuant to the CCI Pellet Agreements.

The Mesabi Trustees note that Cleveland Cliffs has not yet provided a forecast of either the production of iron ore pellets from Northshore or the volume of shipments of iron ore pellets for 2006 or what percentage of such production and shipments will be from Mesabi Trust iron ore. Cliffs has also not provided the Mesabi Trustees with any projections about any possible pricing (and resulting royalty) adjustments that might impact future distributions.