The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

CLF extends agreements with ArcelorMittal on pellet supply and operation of Michigan’s Empire Mine:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cliffs-natural-resources-inc-announces-140202914.html

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced today that it has entered into a revised commercial agreement with ArcelorMittal USA Inc. to supply iron ore pellets for an additional two years through the end of Jan. 2017, with a mutual option to extend for a third year.

In addition, Cliffs and ArcelorMittal USA have also extended their joint partnership for the Empire Mine located on the Marquette Iron Range in Michigan. Previously, Cliffs had announced an impending closure of the Empire Mine. Until the amended commercial agreement was reached with ArcelorMittal, the Empire Mine did not have a customer for pellet production beyond 2014. In addition, the partnership arrangement was scheduled to expire automatically in December 2014, without the mutual agreement of both companies to extend. With this decision, Cliffs and ArcelorMittal will extend the life of this mining operation into 2016.

CLF has a 79% equity stake in the Empire Mine.

Today’s PR re-iterated the 2014 guidance provided with 4Q13 results two weeks ago (#msg-97274687).