Duluth, MN (Northland's Newscenter) - In early 2013, Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. may be shutting down one taconite line.
Thursday morning, officials with Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. released their third quarter report with management.
Officials say quarterly consolidated revenues have decreased by 26 percent to $1.5 billion from $2.1 billion in the same quarter last year.
Company officials have lowered their projection on production for 2013.
"All the mining companies and steel companies are seeing demand cut-back somewhat. There is some uncertainty before the election, combined with economic problems in India, China, and Europe, all are combining to reduce the demand for iron ore, thus steel," Ron Brochu, co-publisher for Business North, said.
The November presidential election will play a role in automotive and construction sales, which will drive steel production, Brochu said.
District Manager, Sandy Karnowski with Public Affairs-Minnesota released a statement in behalf of Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc.
“Cliffs is currently assessing production levels for the coming year for all of its operations. We do not typically release production estimates for individual operating facilities. At this time no final production estimates have been completed. As always, any production estimates are subject to change throughout the year based on business conditions,” Karnowski said.
The iron ore projection in March this year was 22.1 million gross tons, Brochu said.
According to Brochu, North American iron ore production is expected to be lowered to nearly 20 million tons in 2013.
Justin Reis, NNC. jreis@northlandsnewscenter.com
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