Cliffs to exit Australia faster to serve US base

摘要

Cleveland-Cliffs has accelerated thetime frame for the closure of mining operationsin Australia and is on pace to cease operations inthe country this year as the miner maintains itsfocus on its expanding US operations.Cliffs, a long-time pellet provider for USblast furnaces, is progressing on two majorinitiatives to supply US electric-arc furnaces. In2018 the company plans to spend $250 milliontoward its HBI project in Toledo, Ohio that wasfully funded as of December 2017. It will alsospend approximately $50 million toward furtherupgrades at its Northshore mine to produceup to 3.5 million lt/year of low-silica DR-gradepellets that will feed the Toledo HBI facility.