Apr 15 2020
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. announced today that based on current market conditions, the Company will be temporarily idling production at two of its iron ore mining operations, Northshore Mining in Minnesota and Tilden Mine in Michigan. Cleveland-Cliffs stated that it will work down current inventory levels from these two operations and will continue to ship iron ore to fulfill its commercial agreements with steel customers.
We have evaluated market conditions and the extraordinary disruptions in manufacturing and steel production in North America due to the impact of the COVID-19 market shock. As our steel customers rationalize their operations' capacities, we made the decision to adjust our iron ore production during the first half of the year and not continue to build additional iron ore inventory until market conditions improve. Once the North American steel market improves, Cleveland-Cliffs will be able to quickly restart and ramp up production."
Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
The Company stated that unless business circumstances change, it plans to temporarily idle production at Northshore mine by mid-April with a planned restart by August 2020, and Tilden mine will be temporarily idled by the end of April with a planned restart in July 2020.