Cliffs coal merger is off

I hope they didn’t print t-shirts yet. Cliffs Natural Resources (formerly Cleveland Cliffs) is no longer merging with Appalachian coal giant Alpha Natural Resources even though Cliffs changed its name to match theirs.

Awkward.

The Duluth News Tribune has the full story. It appears that this another example of the economy influencing the long range planning of the companies in the mining business here on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range.

Who likes coal anyway? Not me. Buck up, Cliffs. You find another vast resource to mine and burn. One that respects you and treats you right.

Comments

  1. I don’t have a list of customers for Cliffs or US Steel, but one would have to think that GM, Ford, and Chrysler are three of their biggest customers. If any of those companies go down, it would likely hurt Cliffs and US Steel big time. The very likely near future lack of cash flow due to these reasons could also have played a role in the merger being off.

    I am personally against the proposed bailout of the auto manufacturers. It would set a horrible precedent and won’t get to the root of the problem/s. At the same time, I can see the failure of the big three causing fairly large ripple effects in Northern Minnesota and particularly the Iron Range. I’m afraid that the steel industry could be going from the best of times earlier this year to some really bad times in a very short time. Will the world economy recover enough and do it fast enough to offset the losses the steel industry will have due to the US auto companies failing? We’ll just have to wait and see.

  2. Look at the bright side. “Toner Planet” just opened in Hibbing and soon the “Pizza Shack” will be opening its doors, too. It’s going to be a veritable age of reason around here.

  3. Coal is one of our most abundant natural resources; only a fool would want to bankrupt the coal industry at a time when energy independence is so important to our national security.

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