Cleveland-Cliffs to Temporarily Idle Northshore Mining

SILVER BAY, Minn. – Cleveland-Cliffs announced on Friday it is idling its Northshore Mining in Silver Bay including both of the pellet and mining operations this spring.

Cliffs Senior Director of Corporate Communications, Patricia Persico says the operations will be idled from May 1 through the fall of 2022.

Northshore Mining employs roughly 430 hourly employees and 150 salaried employees. Roughly 410 employees will be impacted by the idle.

“Cleveland-Cliffs has adjusted its full-year iron ore pellet production volume expectation to correspond to internal steelmaking needs for this year. This adjustment of iron ore pellets reflects our internal use of hot-briquetted iron (HBI) production and increased use of scrap in our steelmaking,” said Persico.

Northshore Mining says it will keep about 100 hourly and 70 salaried employees for care and maintenance during the temporary idle.

In April 2020 Cliffs announced it would be idling two of its iron ore plants, including Northshore Mining in Silver Bay, due to market conditions related to the pandemic.