Cliffs Natural Resources Reaches Agreement for Sale of Previously Discontinued renewaFUEL Biomass Plant; Terms not Disclosed

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

announced today that its majority owned affiliate has reached an agreement for the asset sale of its previously discontinued renewaFUEL biomass production facility in Michigan to RNFL Acquisition LLC, an acquisition entity created by an investor group that includes renewaFUEL's minority partners. Under the terms of the final sale agreement, RNFL Acquisition LLC is purchasing the assets and the existing inventory as well as assuming the building lease for the production facility. As part of the transaction, the renewaFUEL brand will also be transferred to RNFL Acquisition LLC. In September 2011, Cliffs announced plans to seek a potential buyer and idle the renewaFUEL operations. At that time, Cliffs stated it is focused on expanding its portfolio of steelmaking raw material assets within its core mining business. The facility, located at the Telkite Technology Park near Sawyer International Airport in Marquette, Mich., was constructed to produce high-energy, low-emission biofuel cubes from sustainably collected wood and agricultural feed stocks. RNFL Acquisition LLC intends to operate the biomass facility in its current location. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.