Cliffs Natural Resources increases iron ore and coal production outlook

Saturday, 12 Sep 2009

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc announced increased production and sales volume expectations in its North American Business Unit, which includes its North American Iron Ore and North American Coal business segments.

Cliffs now expects its North American Iron Ore business segment to recognize sales volume of approximately 16 million tonnes in 2009, an increase from the Company's previous expectation of 13 million tonnes to 14 million tonnes.

In addition, Cliffs expects to collect cash for approximately 3 million tonnes of "bill and hold" sales in 2009. These "bill and hold" sales are unlikely to meet revenue recognition requirements. This new expectation compares with a previous expectation of 3 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes of "bill and hold" sales.

North American Iron Ore equity production volume in 2009 is expected to be 17 million tonnes, up from a previous expectation of 15 million tonnes.

Cliffs also raised its 2009 expected sales volume for its North American Coal business segment to approximately 1.8 million short tons, from a previous expectation of 1.5 million short tons. North American Coal production volume is expected to be 1.8 million tons, up from a previous expectation of 1.3 million tons.

Mr Donald J Gallagher president of Cliffs' North American business unit said “As our customers are increasing steel production and restarting blast furnaces in North America and Europe, we are seeing modest improvements in orders and in market expectations for steelmaking raw materials. We will continue to monitor the markets closely to ensure we adjust production appropriately to meet demand as needed.”

Cliffs Natural Resources is an international mining and natural resources company. It is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of directshipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia and a significant producer of metallurgical coal. The North American business unit is comprised of six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada, and two coking coal mining complexes located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit is comprised of two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The South American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapá Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapá in Brazil.