Cleveland-Cliffs
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is an American company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, that operates as the largest producer of flat-rolled steel in North America, with vertically integrated operations spanning iron ore mining, beneficiation, pelletizing, and steelmaking.[1][2] The firm supplies iron ore pellets primarily to the steel industry and manufactures value-added steel products for sectors including automotive, infrastructure, and appliances, employing around 30,000 workers across the United States and Canada.[1][3] ![200 Public Square 2022.png][float-right] Originally established in 1847 as the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, Cleveland-Cliffs evolved through mergers, including a pivotal 1891 combination with Iron Cliffs Company, to become a dominant force in North American iron ore production before expanding into integrated steel manufacturing via strategic acquisitions.[4][5] Key milestones include the 2020 purchases of AK Steel and substantially all of ArcelorMittal USA, which transformed it from a mining-focused entity into North America's leading flat-rolled steelmaker with enhanced downstream capabilities in stamping and tubing.[6][7] These moves solidified its position as a vertically integrated producer, reducing reliance on imported materials and emphasizing domestic supply chains amid global trade pressures.[8] The company's operations include major iron ore facilities in Minnesota and Michigan, alongside steel mills such as those at Burns Harbor, Indiana, underscoring its role in sustaining U.S. industrial capacity.[2]Operations
Iron Ore Mining and Pelletizing
Cleveland-Cliffs operates iron ore mining and pelletizing facilities primarily in the Mesabi Iron Range of Minnesota and the Marquette Iron Range in Michigan, extracting taconite—a low-grade iron ore—and processing it into high-quality pellets for steelmaking.[9] The company's four active mines include Northshore Mining near Babbitt, Minnesota; United Taconite near Eveleth, Minnesota; Hibbing Taconite near Hibbing, Minnesota; and the Minorca Mine near Virginia, Minnesota, with additional operations at the Tilden Mine in Michigan.[9] These sites employ open-pit mining methods, utilizing large-scale equipment to remove overburden and extract ore reserves estimated in billions of tons across the regions.[10] The beneficiation process begins with crushing and grinding the taconite to liberate iron minerals, followed by magnetic separation and flotation to concentrate the ore and remove silica and other impurities, achieving iron content typically exceeding 65% in the final concentrate.[10] This concentrate is then mixed with binders like bentonite, formed into green pellets via balling drums or discs, and hardened through induration in straight-grate or grate-kiln furnaces at temperatures up to 1,300°C, producing durable pellets optimized for blast furnace or direct reduction use.[11] Pellets minimize impurities such as phosphorus and sulfur, enhancing downstream steel quality and efficiency compared to sinter or lump ore.[11] Cleveland-Cliffs holds North America's largest iron ore pellet production capacity at approximately 29 million long tons annually across its facilities, enabling vertical integration that supplies over 90% of its steelmaking needs and reduces reliance on imported ore.[12] In 2019, a $100 million expansion at Northshore Mining introduced commercial-scale production of direct reduced iron (DRI)-grade pellets, featuring higher iron content and porosity for improved reducibility in low-carbon steel processes.[9] These advancements support DRI integration, as evidenced by DOE-funded projects up to $575 million for decarbonization technologies, including DRI facilities that utilize standard or DR-grade pellets to lower CO2 emissions by substituting coal-based reduction with natural gas or hydrogen.[13] This positions the pellets competitively against global suppliers by combining domestic supply security with emission reductions, though economic viability depends on energy costs and policy incentives.[14]Steelmaking and Finishing Processes
Cleveland-Cliffs employs a combination of blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) and electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking technologies, leveraging vertically integrated operations from iron ore pellets to finished flat-rolled products. In the BF-BOF process, high-grade pellets—often superflux variants developed by the company in 2017—are charged into blast furnaces with coke to produce molten pig iron, which is refined in BOF vessels through oxygen injection to decarburize and alloy the steel.[11][12] This traditional route relies on the company's pellet production for consistent feedstock quality, reducing slag volume and emissions relative to sinter-based methods.[11] Complementing BF-BOF, EAF operations utilize ferrous scrap and hot-briquetted iron (HBI) from the Toledo direct reduction plant, commissioned in 2020, to melt and refine steel via electric arcs, promoting scrap recycling and energy efficiency.[11] HBI, produced by reducing DR-grade pellets with natural gas, substitutes for higher-carbon inputs in EAFs, potentially cutting Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50% when paired with these furnaces.[11] The adoption of EAF capacity expanded significantly following the 2020 acquisitions of AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA assets, diversifying from blast furnace dependency and enhancing flexibility for value-added grades.[15] Post-steelmaking, molten steel is continuously cast into slabs, which are reheated and hot-rolled into coils through multi-stand mills to achieve desired thicknesses for hot-rolled sheet.[12] Selected hot-rolled products undergo pickling, cold rolling, and annealing to produce thinner, smoother cold-rolled steel with superior formability for automotive applications.[12] Finishing lines apply protective coatings, such as hot-dip galvanizing or electrogalvanizing, to enhance durability against corrosion, yielding coated flat-rolled steel tailored for infrastructure and manufacturing uses.[12] These processes support Cleveland-Cliffs' position as North America's largest producer of flat-rolled steel, with operations configured for annual raw steel output approaching 23 million net tons, the majority directed toward flat-rolled products including hot-rolled (37% of recent shipments), coated (29%), and cold-rolled (15%) varieties.[16][17][12]Major Facilities and Capacity
Cleveland-Cliffs maintains core iron ore mining and pelletizing operations across five active sites in Minnesota and Michigan, including Northshore Mining, Hibbing Taconite, United Taconite, Minorca, and Tilden, collectively providing an annual rated production capacity of 29 million long tons of pellets.[12] These facilities form the upstream foundation of the company's vertically integrated model, concentrating extraction and processing in the resource-rich Mesabi Iron Range and Upper Peninsula to minimize transportation dependencies and bolster domestic raw material security.[9] Downstream steelmaking assets are strategically clustered in the industrial Midwest, encompassing integrated mills at Cleveland Works in Ohio, Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor in Indiana, and Middletown Works in Ohio, alongside finishing operations for tubular products at Steelton in Pennsylvania and stamping at sites like Dearborn Works in Michigan.[2] The November 1, 2024, acquisition of Stelco added two Canadian facilities—Hamilton Works and Lake Erie Works in Ontario—with a combined raw steel capacity of 4.8 million tons annually, extending geographic reach while preserving cross-border supply chain linkages.[18][19] Proximity to automotive centers in the Great Lakes region affords logistical efficiencies, reducing lead times and vulnerability to global shipping interruptions for just-in-time manufacturing demands.[20] Overall, these assets support scalable output aligned with cyclical steel market conditions, with mechanisms to idle select capacities—such as reduced pellet production at Minnesota mines or temporary shutdowns at non-core plants—during low-demand periods to preserve operational flexibility without structural overhauls.[21] The infrastructure sustains approximately 30,000 employees across U.S. and Canadian operations, underscoring workforce scale tied to regional industrial density.[1]