US-based mining company Mesabi Metallics has announced that, after years of court proceedings, a federal court in Delaware has confirmed there is sufficient evidence that US-based mining company Cleveland-Cliffs impeded Mesabi from building its iron ore mine and pelletizing plant in Minnesota causing antitrust injury.
Ruling that there is sufficient evidence that permits a reasonable juror to conclude that the conduct of Cleveland-Cliffs, which was found to be pressuring critical contractors working on Mesabi’s project to terminate their relationships with Mesabi, was anticompetitive, the court noted that these actions could substantially foreclose Mesabi from the market and exclude competition. Mesabi’s claims for damages against Cliffs will now proceed to trial. Mesabi’s experts calculated the damages caused by Cleveland-Cliffs’ anticompetitive conduct at about $1.9 billion. The final amount of damages will be determined by jury after trial.
Mesabi Metallics is constructing an iron ore mine and a pelletizing facility with an annual capacity of seven million mt in Nashwauk, Minnesota. The pelletizing facility is scheduled to commence operations in the first quarter of 2026. The company has already invested more than $1.7 billion in this project and is further investing about $650 million to complete the project.
