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Cleveland Cliffs Expands Pellet Capacity

October 4, 2017

Cleveland Cliffs is now complete owner of Tilden Mining Company located in Ishpeming, Mich. Cliffs purchased U.S. Steel’s 15 percent equity interest in the mine for $105 million.

With the closing of this transaction on Sept. 29, Cliffs added 1.2 million long tons of annual pellet production capacity and 55 million long tons of proven and probable crude iron ore reserves. Pellet sales volume will increase to 20 million long tons in 2018 from an expected 19 million long tons in 2017.

Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO, said, “With the current strength in the Great Lakes iron ore pellet market and anticipated future demand from our HBI facility, acquiring additional pellet capacity became a top priority for Cliffs. We have managed Tilden since 1974 and acquiring the remaining interest of the mine became the most logical path to accomplishing this through a riskfree transaction.”