In an effort to rebrand in conjunction with planned growth strategies, Cliffs Natural Resources has announced its new name as Cleveland-Cliffs. The name was previously used by the company for many decades prior to changing to Cliffs Natural Resources.
After three years of reducing its portfolio of assets and cleaning up its balance sheet that reduced debt load by 50 percent, management now has the assets and financial standing to grow again via capital expenditures. Recently, the company established a $75 million iron ore pellet facility and is proceeding with the $700 million HBI facility in Ohio due to open in 2020. According to CFO Tim Flanagan, Cleveland-Cliffs will increase spending substantially in the next two years.
Lourenco Goncalves, the company’s Chairman, President and CEO, mentioned in a press release the following three advantages for Cleveland-Cliffs: geographic position within Great Lakes that keeps other steel mill suppliers out of the market, technically consistent product quality and the high barriers to entry in the US iron ore market.
In regards Australian operations, Goncalves stated, “We have no real plans to expand the life of mine beyond the current proven and probable iron ore reserves.”
The company expects US operations to remain stable at an average price of $70/mt for iron ore in the global market and HRC at $620/nt level domestically.