Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. reported April 13 that it would temporarily idle production at two of its iron ore mining operations – Northshore Mining in Minnesota and Tilden Mine in Michigan.
The Cleveland-based iron ore and steel producer said it would work down inventory levels at those two sites and continue to fulfill its commercial agreements with steel customers.
The impact of COVID-19 in North America is the culprit. Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in a news release that the production adjustment was made in response to customers’ own reductions in operations.
“Once the North American steel market improves, Cleveland-Cliffs will be able to quickly restart and ramp up production,” Goncalves stated.
The two sites are expected to begin idling production by mid to late April, with restarts, unless otherwise warranted, in July to August.
In March Cleveland-Cliffs announced the completion of its acquisition of AK Steel Holding Co.
