Cleveland Cliffs Inc (CLF)

[kaivamei]

Mesabi Metallics ready to emerge from bankruptcy
By John Myers
Duluth News Tribune, Dec 21, 2017 at 8:49 p.m.

[This article presents Clarke's version--]

NASHWAUK — Attorneys with Chippewa Capital Partners are expected to file documents in federal bankruptcy court within days that will bring the idled Mesabi Metallics project out of the ashes of the Essar Steel Minnesota bankruptcy for good.

The documents, which could be filed as early as today in Delaware, will inform federal Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon that all requirements of the bankruptcy plan, approved last summer, are in place — so-called bankruptcy emergence.

"We're ready to exit bankruptcy. Nothing in the case is contested anymore," said Tom Clarke, the Roanoke, Va., billionaire who has dived into the Minnesota iron ore industry over the past year.

...

Clarke confirmed that the land Cliffs says it purchased mineral rights under was part of the parcels Mesabi Metallics planned to mine on. But he said other mineral rights at the site would give his company ample mining reserves even if the Cliffs deal is upheld. Chippewa still has access to other private leases as well as state of Minnesota mineral rights.

"We have the permits, they (Cliffs) do not," Clarke noted.

A media report cited an unnamed source saying Cliff's agreement with Glacier Park was a "crippling blow" to Mesabi Metallics. But Clarke said that's far from the case.

"We have multiple ore bodies to choose from there. They (Cliffs) aren't going to stop us," Clarke said.

Others have said that the deal between Cleveland-Cliffs and Glacier Park, a subsidiary of Houston-based ConocoPhillips, may be invalid, in violation of orders by Judge Shannon attaching previous Essar mineral rights to the bankruptcy case.

...

For their part, state officials appeared to be monitoring the situation but sticking with Chippewa which is promising to employ hundreds of people and invest billions of dollars. Cliffs officials have been less clear on what they would do with the ore at the site.

"The purchase and leasing of private property holdings by Cliffs came as a complete surprise, and it presents significant additional challenges for the Chippewa Capital Partners project," said Matt Swenson, spokesman for Gov. Mark Dayton, in a statement. "The Governor is intensively reviewing possible options with his project team."

...

Read more at:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/energy-and-mining/4377892-mesabi-metallics-ready-emerge-bankruptcy