Cleveland-Cliffs is idling two of its three iron ore mines in the US as more integrated steelmakers shut blast furnaces due to Covid-19 shutdowns in steel consuming industries.
Cleveland-Cliffs will idle its Northshore mine in Minnesota and the Tilden mine in Michigan. The company will use inventories at those sites to cover shipments to its customers.
The Northshore mine produced 5.2mn gross tons (gt) of iron ore pellets in 2019, while the Tilden mine produced 7.7mn gt.
The remaining open mine is the United Taconite mine in Minnesota, which produced 5.3mn gt of iron ore pellets in 2019. Cleveland-Cliffs also has a 23pc stake in the Hibbing Taconite mine, also in Minnesota, which produced 7.5mn gt in 2019. Integrated global steelmaker ArcelorMittal owns a 62.3pc stake in Hibbing and operates the mine, while US-based integrated steelmaker US Steel owns the remaining 14.7pc interest.
Integrated steelmakers have idled multiple blast furnaces, which use iron ore to produce crude steel, in the last month. AK Steel, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, idled its 2.2mn st/yr Dearborn Works in Detroit at the end of March.
Cleveland-Cliffs recently purchased AK Steel for $1.1bn, partially to create more stable demand for Cleveland-Cliffs' iron ore. AK Steel was said to consume around 6mn st/yr of iron ore pellets.
ArcelorMittal and US Steel have idled multiple blast furnaces totaling more than 5.2mn st/yr of flat rolled steel production.
