CLEVELAND: Cliffs Natural Resources Incorporation announced it has completed the sale of its Mingo County Coal assets in West Virginia to Coronado Coal, for $174 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities.
Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cliffs Natural Resources Incorporation said the sale of Mingo County Coal, which included a meaningful tax benefit to the company, clearly demonstrates our ability to execute complex transactions despite an adverse M&A (mergers & acquisitions) environment for commodity related transactions.
In addition to completing the sale of the Mingo County coal mines, Cliffs confirmed that it has ceased active production at its Bloom Lake ore operations near Fermont, Québec, Canada.
The expected tax benefit associated with the transaction will be between 20 to 25 percent of the previously disclosed pre-tax loss of approximately $400 million. Cliffs will record the results of this sale in its fourth quarter earnings.
Further Goncalves said as Cliffs becomes nimble company, sharply focused on being the major supplier of iron ore to the American steel industry, with no US iron ore contracts resetting any time in 2015 or 2016, no portion of our public debt maturing until 2018 and a strong 2015 economic forecast for the United States, we believe that we are better positioned than any other iron ore mining company in the world to deliver profits in 2015.
