There's an old saying that goes something like: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Cliffs Natural Resources, which owns two mines in the Upper Peninsula, announced recently that is has decided to dissolve its Michigan Iron Nuggets joint venture with Kobe Steel and focus, instead, on its time-tested iron ore pellets.
The joint venture was originally formed in 2007 to explore the viability of constructing a plant to produce iron nuggets. The plant was designed and permitted for construction next to the Empire Mine in Palmer. Cliffs indicated in a recent press release that throughout the life of the venture it had conducted a number of feasibility studies on the possibility of pursuing a commercially viable process, but ultimately concluded that given its strategic priorities to focus on its core business, continued work on the project should be ended.
"We are disappointed that we are not able to move forward with the iron nugget facility, but remain very appreciative of the efforts made by federal, state, county and township officials who worked with Cliffs over several years on this project," says Joseph Carrabba, the chairman, president and CEO of Cliffs. "We are grateful for their support in the exploration of this potential industrial operation in Michigan."
Cliffs had less than 10 employees exclusively working on the joint venture. The company's press release states it plans to reassign "nearly all" to other positions within the company.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Cliffs Natural Resources
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