Cleveland-Cliffs Selling Australian Iron Ore Assets

Cleveland-Cliffs has entered into a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the assets of its Asia Pacific Iron Ore business to Mineral Resources Ltd., an Australian mining services company with existing mining operations across multiple commodities, including iron ore. Cliffs’ previously disclosed costs of closing the Australian operations are expected to be reduced by approximately $65 million to $75 million based on Mineral Resources assuming certain obligations and Cliffs reaching negotiated settlements with other third parties.

“The sale of these assets to Mineral Resources marks Cliffs’ exit from the Australian iron ore business, and represents the final step in the implementation of our U.S. iron ore-centric strategy,” said Lourenco Goncalves, Cliffs’ chairman, president and CEO. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement on a transaction that not only brings real value to Cliffs shareholders, but also represents the potential for continued job opportunities for employees in Western Australia who would be impacted by the pending closure of the Koolyanobbing complex.”

The transaction is expected to close before the end of the second quarter of 2018, subject to certain conditions precedent being achieved. Cliffs said the deal is structured as a sale of the following assets and assumption of certain related liabilities: mining tenements, mine facility assets, port assets and the benefit of certain contracts.

As featured in Womp 2018 Vol 07 - www.womp-int.com