For over a century, Cleveland-Cliffs has been mining iron ore, but is no stranger to reinventing itself, having gone from being a steel industry supplier to a steelmaker five years ago.
Now the Cleveland-based mining and steelmaking company, one of the largest industrial employers in the Region, says it is looking at diversifying into a hot market. Cleveland-Cliffs announced Monday it is looking at the potential of mining rare earth minerals that are widely used in technology like smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines.
China has dominated the global market for rare earth minerals; The United States has been weighing alternative suppliers like Australia, especially since the coronavirus pandemic raised widespread concerns about supply chains.
Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in a press release the company would look into if it could mine rare earth minerals at its mines in Michigan and Minnesota. Initial geological surveys show indications of rare-earth mineralization, he said.
It's not immediately clear how much taconite mining would be affected or how it would affect the Region steel mills that depend on that iron ore.
JP Morgan Bank analyst Bill Peterson said in a note that Cleveland-Cliffs' proposal had not been proven commercially viable and likely would take some time to implement.
