Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., formerly Cliffs Natural Resources, is a Cleveland, Ohio-based company that specializes in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. It is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America.
Operations
Cleveland-Cliffs manages and operates four iron ore mines in Minnesota and two mines in Michigan, one of which, the Empire Mine, has been indefinitely idled. These mines produce various grades of iron ore pellets, including standard and fluxed, for use in blast furnaces as part of the steelmaking process as well as Direct Reduced (DR) grade pellets for use in Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) applications. Since the mines are located near the Great Lakes, the majority of the pellets are transported by rail to loading ports for shipments via vessel to steelmakers in North America. During 2020, 2019 and 2018, the company sold 12 million, 19 million and 21 million long tons of iron ore product, respectively, to third parties.
The company operates a Hot-Briquetted Iron (HBI) facility in Toledo, Ohio. HBI is a form of DRI that can be used as an alternative to scrap iron. When used as a feedstock, HBI can enable an electric arc furnace to produce more valuable grades of steel.
It also operates three coke-making facilities in Monessen, Pennsylvania, Warren, Ohio, and Follansbee, West Virginia, with an annual capacity of 3.9 million tons, as well as a coal mine in Princeton, West Virginia.
The company operates many fully-integrated steel mills and finishing facilities in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and North Carolina. It has annual production capacity of approximately 23 million net tons of raw steel.
History
19th century
The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847 and chartered as a company by Michigan in 1850. Samuel Mather and six Ohio-based associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Soon afterwards, the first Soo Locks opened in 1855, allowing iron ore to be shipped from Lake Superior to Lake Erie.
Technological improvements, such as the Bessemer process, made it possible for the North American Great Lakes to produce steel on an industrial scale. The south shore of Lake Erie was near a supply of coal, making that region an efficient point for the construction of steel mills.
The company's request for government intervention quashed the Upper Peninsula miners' strike of 1865.
In the late 1800s, the company expanded via acquisitions to gain market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.
The company invested substantially to improve the logistics of iron-ore transport. In 1892, the firm built the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad to carry iron ore from the mines directly to company-owned docks on Lake Superior.
20th century
William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board from 1890 to 1947, participating in the transition from the hard-rock iron ore of Upper Michigan to the soft hematite of Minnesota's Mesabi Range and adjacent lodes.
Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The SS. William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper lakes.