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CLEVELAND (AP) -- Cliffs Natural Resources is selling off coal assets in West Virginia as the mining company continues to shift more toward a pure, iron ore supplier.
Cliffs will take a pre-tax loss of $375 million to $425 million on the sale in the four quarter. It will use proceeds from the $175 million sale to Coronado Coal II LLC to pay down debt.
"This transaction is another important step in executing our strategy to transform Cliffs into a stronger, pure-play U.S. iron ore supplier," said Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves.
The mining sector is getting hammered by falling commodity prices as the global economy slows, with China standing out. Cliffs said in October that it would take a charge of about $6 billion to write down the value of its seaborne iron ore and coal assets. It had bought aggressively into mining operations in Canada before commodity sales began to weaken noticeably.
Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., based in Cleveland, have fallen almost 70 percent over the past year.
The assets being sold are located in Logan County, about 70 miles southwest of Charleston. Cliffs said it will continue to shop around its remaining coal assets, including the Pinnacle mine in West Virginia and the Oak Grove mine in Alabama, but that the sale announced Wednesday will not affect them.
The deal is targeted to close by the end of the year.
Shares rose almost 2 percent before the opening bell.
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CLIFFS Natural Resources
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PRODUCER |
CODE : CLF |
ISIN : US18683K1016 |
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ProfileMarket IndicatorsVALUE : Projects & res.Press releasesAnnual reportRISK : Asset profileContact Cpy |
CLIFFS Natural Res is a iron producing company based in United states of america. CLIFFS Natural Res produces iron, coal in Australia, in Brazil and in Canada, and holds various exploration projects in Canada. Its main assets in production are WABUSH MINE, EMPIRE AND TILDEN MINES, HIBBING TACONITE, NORTHSHORE MINE, UNITED TACONITE, OAK GROVE MINE, GREEN RIDGE MINE and PINNACLE MINE in Canada, AUSTRALIAN IRON ORE and SONOMA in Australia and AMAPA in Brazil and its main exploration properties are MT JACKSON J1 in Australia and DIAGNOS, WAWA, FREEWEST, MC FAULD'S LAKE, MACFADYEN, WAWA CLAIMS and BIG DADDY in Canada. CLIFFS Natural Res is listed in France, in Germany and in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is US$ 6.2 billions as of today (€ 5.8 billions). Its stock quote reached its highest recent level on May 16, 2008 at US$ 99.17, and its lowest recent point on January 15, 2016 at US$ 1.20. CLIFFS Natural Res has 297 400 968 shares outstanding. |