Steel Mills

Cliffs slates layoffs at Minnesota mines due to excess iron ore supply

Written by Laura Miller

March 21, 2025

Citing an excess supply of iron pellets from last year, Cleveland-Cliffs said Friday it plans to temporarily idle portions of its mining operations in Minnesota, impacting the jobs of 630 employees.

“Cleveland-Cliffs has issued WARN notices related to the planned idle of its Minorca mine and partial idle of its Hibbing mine,” the company told SMU in an email.

The temporary measures “are necessary to re-balance working capital needs and consume excess pellet inventory produced in 2024,” it added.

Cliffs said that after the completion of a required 60-day WARN period, 630 positions will be impacted.

“We remain committed to supporting our employees and communities while monitoring market conditions,” Cliffs’ statement concluded.

Both the Minorca and Hibbing taconite mines are located in the center of the Mesabi Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota.

The Minorca mine near Virginia, Minn., produces ~3 million long tons of iron-bearing pellets annually, which are shipped to and consumed by Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor plant in East Chicago, Ind. The No. 7 blast furnace is the only furnace in operation at the facility.

The Hibbing open-pit taconite mine north of Hibbing, Minn., is majority-owned by Cliffs; U.S. Steel also has a small stake in the operations.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. Since 2007, she has held various editorial and marketing positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills. In 2021, after a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel trade journalism, joining SMU in 2022. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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