Trustees of Mesabi Trust declared a distribution of $0.295 per Unit of Beneficial Interest payable on February 20, 2005 to Mesabi Trust unitholders of record at the close of business on January 30, 2005.

The distribution compares to $0.30 per Unit for the same period last year. This decrease of one-half cent per Unit in the current distribution compared to the distribution following the same quarter last year is due primarily to a substantial decrease in shipments of iron ore pellets during the most recent quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2003, offset by bonus royalty payments and higher average prices realized in the most recent quarter.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc, the corporate parent of Northshore Mining Co. (the lessee/operator), has not provided the Mesabi Trustees with a forecast of either the production of iron ore pellets from Northshore or the volume of shipments of iron ore pellets for 2005. Accordingly, the Trustees are not able to forecast the volume of shipments of iron ore pellets for 2005.

The volume of shipments by Northshore varies 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 to the Trust are dependent on the volume of shipments for the quarter and the year to date, the pricing of the iron ore product sales, and the percentage of iron ore shipments which is from Mesabi Trust lands rather than other lands.

In 2004, actual production of iron ore pellets by Northshore Mining Co. approximated 4.60 million tons and actual shipments approximated 4.69 million tons. By comparison, actual pellet production for 2003 approximated 4.68 million tons and actual shipments approximated 4.67 million tons. In each case, these figures relate to iron ore mined from Mesabi Trust lands.