Cleveland, Ohio-based Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced Thursday that the production ramp-up at its Bloom Lake Mine, acquired from Consolidated Thompson Mines Limited in May, is progressing as planned, and is anticipated to reach an 8 million metric ton (mt) annualized production rate by the end of the year. Over the next seven months Cliffs estimates selling approximately 4.8 million mt of iron ore at a price of $170-$175/mt, FOB Eastern Canada.
For its North American coal production, Cliffs has reduced its production estimates. Cliffs had anticipated that its North American coal business would sell 6.5 million net tons (nt) of coal in 2011, but reduced the outlook to 5.1 million nt at a price of about $110-$115/nt due to major weather and environmental issues.
At Cliffs' metallurgical Oak Grove Mine in Alabama, severe tornados in April caused significant damage to the coal preparation plant and overland conveyor system, and the company expects to repair the damages over the next five to seven months. At Cliff's Pinnacle Mine in West Virginia, over the last two weeks higher than ambient levels of carbon monoxide have been detected, and underground mine operations had to be halted. Force majeure notices were issued to Cliffs' affected customers, and regular production is expected to resume on or about July 1.