December 20, 2007

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and Michigan Department of Agriculture Director Don Koivisto announced today that Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc. (NYSE: CLF) has made a 70 percent investment in a green energy company, Renewafuel, that produces high-quality, low-emission biofuels.

Renewafuel has a production-scale research and development facility in Battle Creek, Michigan. The company plans to expand capacity at the Battle Creek facility and construct additional production facilities in Michigan, Minnesota and other Midwest states.

“This acquisition will help make Michigan the center of our nation’s biofuels industry,” Granholm said. “No state in the country is better positioned to lead the alternative energy industry than Michigan.”

“The rapid growth of Michigan’s diverse renewable energy industry is a shining example of how agriculture can strengthen and diversify our economy,” said Koivisto. “As a result of this diversity and the geographic size of Michigan, it is possible that these facilities can be set-up in multiple regions of the state.”

Founded in 2005, Renewafuel produces high-quality, dense fuel cubes made from renewable and consistently available components such as corn stalks, switch grass, grains, soybean and oat hulls, wood, and wood byproducts. In addition to the potential use of Renewafuel’s biofuel cubes in its own production process, Cliffs indicated the cubes will be marketable to other organizations as a potential substitute for Western coal and natural gas.

Cliffs successfully tested multiple varieties of the green fuel at its facility outside of Marquette, Michigan, including the first-ever use of corn stover (stalks) to fuel a pelletizing furnace, which uses high temperatures to harden iron ore pellets for shipment. The company hopes to begin using the fuel in its other operation near Ishpeming, Michigan.

Renewafuel’s other owners are Leon Endres, founder and owner of Endres Processing, and James Mennell, founder and managing partner of The Environmental Law Group in Minneapolis. Endres Processing operates in 18 states, producing high-quality livestock feeds. Mennell has served as environmental counsel for many of the region’s renewable energy projects and has considerable expertise in the renewable energy arena.

Renewafuel has developed the technical ability to aggregate the multiple feedstocks and engineer energy cubes to meet exacting specifications of individual customers. The cubes are much more consistent in size, heat value, and moisture content than raw biofuels and generate nearly twice as much energy as other biofuels. Because of their size and density, the cubes can be used in most solid fuel systems with little or no modifications required.

Renewafuel’s biofuel cubes - about the size of a coal briquette - generate about the same amount of energy as coal from the Western United States; however, the green fuel emits 90 percent less sulfur dioxide, 35 percent less particulate matter, and 30 percent less acid gases than coal, as demonstrated in tests at the University of Iowa’s power plant, which were overseen by the U.S. EPA’s Technology Verification Organization. In addition, the cubes are made from feedstocks that are considered biogenic carbon-meaning they’re already part of the natural carbon balance and will not add to atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Combustion of the cubes is considered greenhouse neutral under most existing carbon dioxide registry and trading programs.

The energy cubes can be used as a carbon neutral stand-alone fuel or a “green” supplement blended with existing fuels in industrial furnaces and boilers. The energy cubes generate more than 40 times the energy required to produce and transport them.

For more information on Michigan’s agriculture industry, visit the Web site at www.michigan.gov/mda.