Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (CLF) SEC Annual Report (10-K) for 2015

Washington, D.C. 20549

ý ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015

OR

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to .

Commission File Number: 1-8944

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code: (216) 694-5700

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

NONE

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    YES ¨ NO ý

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.  YES ¨ NO ý

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    YES ý   NO ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files) .    YES ý   NO ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer  ý   Accelerated filer  ¨   Non-accelerated filer  ¨ Smaller reporting company ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    YES ¨  NO ý

As of June 30, 2015, the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common shares held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based on the closing price of $4.33 per share as reported on the New York Stock Exchange - Composite Index, was $653,133,194 (excluded from this figure is the voting stock beneficially owned by the registrant's officers and directors).

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant's common shares, par value $0.125 per share, was 180,111,831 as of February 22, 2016 .

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant's proxy statement for its 2016 annual meeting of shareholders are incorporated by reference into Part III.

DEFINITIONS

The following abbreviations or acronyms are used in the text. References in this report to the "Company," "we," "us," "our" and "Cliffs" are to Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and subsidiaries, collectively. References to "A$" or "AUD" refer to Australian currency, "C$" to Canadian currency and "$" to United States currency.

PART I

Introduction

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. traces its history back to 1847. Today, we are a leading mining and natural resources company in the United States. We are a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from our mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. Additionally, Cliffs operates an iron ore mining complex in Western Australia. Driven by the core values of safety, social, environmental and capital stewardship, our employees endeavor to provide all stakeholders with operating and financial transparency.

We are organized through a global commercial group responsible for sales and delivery of our products and operations groups responsible for the production of the iron ore that we market. Our continuing operations are organized according to geographic location: U.S. Iron Ore and Asia Pacific Iron Ore.

In the U.S., we currently own or co-own five iron ore mines in Michigan and Minnesota. We are currently operating the two iron mines in Michigan and one of the three iron ore mines in Minnesota. Two of our three iron ore operations in Minnesota are temporarily idled due to reductions in iron ore pellet nominations from our customers due to the continued oversupply of steel in the U.S. market as a result of record levels of imported steel which stems from excess supply in the global markets. Our Asia Pacific operations consist solely of our Koolyanobbing iron ore mining complex in Western Australia.

Also, for the majority of 2015, we operated two metallurgical coal operations in Alabama and West Virginia. In December 2015, we completed the sale of these operations, which marked our exit from the coal business. As of March 31, 2015, management determined that our North American Coal operating segment met the criteria to be classified as held for sale under ASC 205, Presentation of Financial Statements . As such, all current year and historical North American Coal operating segment results are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations. Refer to NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further discussion of the North American Coal segment discontinued operations.

Additionally, we continue to own two non-operating iron ore mines in Eastern Canada that are currently in restructuring proceedings in Montreal, Quebec, under the CCAA. The CCAA filing related to our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations is more fully described below in the Business Segments section and in NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS . Financial results prior to the respective deconsolidations of the Bloom Lake and Wabush Groups and subsequent expenses directly associated with the Bloom Lake Group, Wabush Group and certain other wholly-owned subsidiaries (collectively, the "Canadian Entities") are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations.

Unless otherwise noted, discussion of our business and results of operations in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refers to our continuing operations.

The Company is Focused on our Core U.S. Iron Ore Business

We continue to execute the strategy that was established in 2014, which focuses on becoming a company fully centered on our U.S. Iron Ore business. We are the market-leading iron ore producer in the U.S., supplying differentiated iron ore pellets under long-term contracts, some of which begin to expire in December 2016, to the largest North American steel producers. Cliffs has the unique advantage of being a low cost producer of iron ore pellets in the U.S. market with significant transportation and logistics advantages to effectively serve the U.S. steel market. Pricing structures contained in and the long-term supply provided by our existing contracts, along with our low-cost operating profile, positions U.S. Iron Ore as our most stable business. We expect to continue to strengthen our U.S. Iron Ore cost operating profile through continuous operational improvements and disciplined capital allocation policies. Strategically, we continue to develop various entry options into the EAF market.  As the EAF steel market continues to grow in the U.S., there is an opportunity for our iron ore to serve this market by providing pellets to the alternative metallics market to produce direct reduced iron pellets, hot briquetted iron and/or pig iron.  In 2015, we produced and shipped a batch trial of DR-grade pellets, a source of lower silica iron units for the production of direct reduced iron pellets. In early 2016, we reached a significant milestone with positive results from the successful industrial trial of our DR-grade pellets. While we are still in the early stages of developing our alternative metallic business, we believe this will open up a new opportunity for us to diversify our product mix and add new customers to our U.S. Iron Ore segment beyond the traditional blast furnace clientele.

Business Segments

Our Company's continuing operations are organized and managed according to geographic location: U.S. Iron Ore and Asia Pacific Iron Ore.

Segment information reflects our business units, which are organized to meet customer requirements and global competition. We have historically evaluated segment performance based on sales margin, defined as revenues less cost of goods sold, and operating expenses identifiable to each segment. Additionally, beginning in the third quarter of 2014, concurrent with the change in control on July 29, 2014, management began to evaluate segment performance based on EBITDA, defined as net income (loss) before interest, income taxes, depreciation, depletion and amortization, and Adjusted EBITDA, defined as EBITDA excluding certain items such as impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets, impacts of discontinued operations, extinguishment of debt, severance and contractor termination costs and other costs associated with the change in control, foreign currency remeasurement, certain supplies inventory write-offs, and intersegment corporate allocations of selling, general and administrative costs. Management uses and believes that investors benefit from referring to these measures in evaluating operating and financial results, as well as in planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods as these financial measures approximate the cash flows associated with the operational earnings. Financial information about our segments, including financial information about geographic areas, is included in Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and NOTE 2 - SEGMENT REPORTING included in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

U.S. Iron Ore

We are a major producer of iron ore pellets, primarily selling production from U.S. Iron Ore to integrated steel companies in the U.S. and Canada. We manage five iron ore mines located in Michigan and Minnesota. In Michigan, we are currently operating the two iron ore mines, Empire mine and Tilden mine. In Minnesota, we are currently operating one iron ore mine, Hibbing mine. The other two iron ore operations in Minnesota, United Taconite mine and Northshore mine, are temporarily idled due to reduced pellet demand from our customers. The idling of United Taconite mine began during August 2015 and the idling of Northshore mine began at the end of November 2015. Both mines are expected to be idled through at least the first quarter of 2016. The U.S.-based mines currently have an annual rated capacity of 32.9 million tons of iron ore pellet production, representing 56 percent of total U.S. pellet production capacity. Based on our equity ownership in these mines, our share of the annual rated production capacity is currently 25.5 million tons, representing 44 percent of total U.S. annual pellet capacity.

The following chart summarizes the estimated annual pellet production capacity and percentage of total U.S. pellet production capacity for each of the respective iron ore producers as of December 31, 2015 :

Our U.S. iron ore production generally is sold pursuant to long-term supply agreements with various price adjustment provisions. For the year ended December 31, 2015 , we produced a total of 26.1 million tons of iron ore pellets, including 19.3 million tons for our account and 6.8 million tons on behalf of steel company partners of the mines.

We produce various grades of iron ore pellets, including standard and fluxed, for use in our customers' blast furnaces as part of the steelmaking process. Additionally, as the EAF steel market continues to grow in the U.S., there is an opportunity for our iron ore to serve this market by providing pellets to the alternative metallics market to produce direct reduced iron pellets, hot briquetted iron and/or pig iron.  In 2015, we produced and shipped a batch trial of DR-grade pellets, a source of lower silica iron units for the production of direct reduced iron pellets. In early 2016, we reached a significant milestone with positive results from the successful industrial trial of our DR-grade pellets. While we are still in the early stages of developing our alternative metallic business, we believe this will open up a new opportunity for us to diversify our product mix and add new customers to our U.S. Iron Ore segment beyond the traditional blast furnace clientele.

The variation in grades of iron ore pellets results from the specific chemical and metallurgical properties of the ores at each mine and whether or not fluxstone is added in the process. Although the grade or grades of pellets currently delivered to each customer are based on that customer's preferences, which depend in part on the characteristics of the customer's blast furnace operation, in many cases our iron ore pellets can be used interchangeably. Industry demand for the various grades of iron ore pellets depends on each customer's preferences and changes from time to time. In the event that a given mine is operating at full capacity, the terms of most of our pellet supply agreements allow some flexibility in providing our customers iron ore pellets from different mines.

Standard pellets require less processing, are generally the least costly pellets to produce and are called "standard" because no ground fluxstone, such as limestone or dolomite, is added to the iron ore concentrate before turning the concentrate into pellets. In the case of fluxed pellets, fluxstone is added to the concentrate, which produces pellets that can perform at higher productivity levels in the customer's specific blast furnace and will minimize the amount of fluxstone the customer may be required to add to the blast furnace.

Each of our U.S. Iron Ore mines is located near the Great Lakes. The majority of our iron ore pellets are transported via railroads to loading ports for shipment via vessel to steelmakers in North America.

Our U.S. Iron Ore sales are influenced by seasonal factors in the first quarter of the year as shipments and sales are restricted by the Army Corp of Engineers due to closure of the Soo Locks and the Welland Canal on the Great Lakes. During the first quarter, we continue to produce our products, but we cannot ship those products via lake vessel until the conditions on the Great Lakes are navigable, which causes our first and second quarter inventory levels to rise. Our limited practice of shipping product to ports on the lower Great Lakes or to customers' facilities prior to the transfer of title has somewhat mitigated the seasonal effect on first and second quarter inventories and sales, as shipment from this point to the customers' operations is not limited by weather-related shipping constraints. At December 31, 2015 and 2014 , we had approximately 1.3 million and 1.4 million tons of pellets, respectively, in inventory at lower lakes or customers' facilities.

U.S. Iron Ore Customers

Our U.S. Iron Ore revenues primarily are derived from sales of iron ore pellets to the North American integrated steel industry, consisting of three major customers, two of which we currently have supply agreements. During the fourth quarter of 2015, we terminated the long term agreement with our third major customer as a result of the continual material breaches. Refer to the Essar section within Concentration of Customers below for further information. Generally, we have multi-year supply agreements with our customers. Sales volume under these agreements largely is dependent on customer requirements, and in many cases, we are the sole supplier of iron ore to the customer. Historically, each agreement has contained a base price that is adjusted annually using one or more adjustment factors. Factors that could result in a price adjustment include spot pricing, measures of general industrial inflation and steel prices. Additionally, certain of our supply agreements have a provision that limits the amount of price increase or decrease in any given year.

During 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , we sold 17.3 million , 21.8 million and 21.3 million tons of iron ore pellets, respectively, from our share of the production from our U.S. Iron Ore mines. The segment's three major customers together accounted for a total of 93 percent , 86 percent and 78 percent of U.S. Iron Ore product revenues for the years 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively. Refer to Concentration of Customers below for additional information regarding our major customers.

Asia Pacific Iron Ore

Our Asia Pacific Iron Ore operations are located in Western Australia and consist solely of our wholly owned Koolyanobbing operation.

The Koolyanobbing operations serve the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipped fines and lump ore. The lump products are fed directly to blast furnaces, while the fines products are used as sinter feed. The variation in the two export product grades reflects the inherent chemical and physical characteristics of the ore bodies mined as well as

the supply requirements of our customers. Production in 2015 was 11.7 million metric tons, compared with 11.4 million metric tons in 2014 and 11.1 million metric tons in 2013 .

Koolyanobbing is a collective term for the deposits at Koolyanobbing, Mount Jackson and Windarling. There are approximately 70 miles separating the three mining areas. The operations at Windarling have been idled since the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2015 as a result of cost cutting measures. Banded iron formations host the mineralization, which is predominately hematite and goethite. Each deposit is characterized with different chemical and physical attributes and, in order to achieve customer product quality, ore in varying quantities from each deposit must be blended together.

Crushing and blending are undertaken at Koolyanobbing, where the crushing and screening plant is located. Once the blended ore has been crushed and screened into a direct lump and fines shipping product, it is transported by rail approximately 360 miles south to the Port of Esperance, via Kalgoorlie, for shipment to our customers in Asia.

Asia Pacific Iron Ore Customers

Asia Pacific Iron Ore's production is under contract with steel companies primarily in China, Japan and Korea.  In March 2015, we extended the majority of our supply agreements with steel producers in China, and one steel producer in Japan, for two years. The remaining supply agreements with our China steel clients, as well as clients in Japan and Korea, will currently expire in March 2016, but we anticipate that the majority of these contracts will be renewed for the remainder of 2016 in conjunction with our customers' fiscal year. Pricing for our Asia Pacific Iron Ore Chinese customers consists of shorter-term pricing mechanisms of various durations up to 45 days based on the average of daily spot prices that are generally associated with the time of unloading of each shipment.  Pricing with our Japanese and Korean customers is generally consistent with the inputs used with our Chinese customers, but the pricing inputs are fixed before shipment.

During 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , we sold 11.6 million , 11.5 million and 11.0 million metric tons of iron ore, respectively, from our Western Australia mines. No Asia Pacific Iron Ore customer comprised more than 10 percent of Cliffs consolidated sales in 2015 , 2014 or 2013 . The segment's five largest customers together accounted for a total of 47 percent, 38 percent and 42 percent of Asia Pacific Iron Ore product revenues for the years 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively.

North American Coal

Throughout the majority of 2015, we owned and operated two low-volatile metallurgical coal operations located in Alabama and West Virginia. These low-volatile metallurgical coal operations had a rated capacity of 6.5 million tons of production annually. In the fourth quarter of 2015, we sold these two low-volatile metallurgical coal operations, Pinnacle mine and Oak grove mine, marking our exit from the coal business. The sale was completed on December 22, 2015. In 2015 , we sold a total of 4.6 million tons, compared with 7.4 million tons in 2014 and 7.3 million tons in 2013 . In the fourth quarter of 2014, we sold our CLCC assets, which consisted of two high-volatile metallurgical coal mines and a thermal coal mine. The sale was completed on December 31, 2014. Sales tons at the CLCC operations were 2.4 million tons and 2.2 million tons for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and are included in the sales tons disclosed above.

As of March 31, 2015, management determined that our North American Coal operating segment met the criteria to be classified as held for sale under ASC 205, Presentation of Financial Statements . As such, all current year and historical North American Coal operating segment results are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations. Refer to NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further discussion of the North American Coal segment discontinued operations.

Eastern Canadian Iron Ore

We continue to own two iron ore mines in Eastern Canada that are currently in restructuring proceedings in Montreal, Quebec, under the CCAA.

As disclosed in the first quarter of 2014, at the end of March 2014, we idled our Wabush Scully mine in Newfoundland and Labrador and in November 2014, we began to implement the permanent closure plan for the mine. The idle and ultimate closure was driven by the unsustainable high cost structure. Additionally, we disclosed in November 2014, that we were pursuing exit options for our Bloom Lake mine. As disclosed in January 2015, active production at the Bloom Lake mine had ceased and the mine had transitioned to "care-and-maintenance" mode. Together, the shutdown of the Wabush Scully mine and the cessation of operations at our Bloom Lake mine represented a complete curtailment of our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations.

During 2014 and 2013 , we sold 7.2 million and 8.6 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate and pellets, respectively, from our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore mines.

As more fully described in NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS , in January 2015, we announced that the Bloom Lake Group commenced restructuring proceedings in Montreal, Quebec under the CCAA. At that time, we had recently suspended Bloom Lake operations and for several months had been exploring options to sell certain of our Canadian assets, among other initiatives. Effective January 27, 2015, following the CCAA filing of the Bloom Lake Group, we deconsolidated the Bloom Lake Group and certain other wholly-owned subsidiaries comprising substantially all of our Canadian operations. Additionally, on May 20, 2015, the Wabush Group commenced restructuring proceedings in Montreal, Quebec under the CCAA which resulted in the deconsolidation of the remaining Wabush Group entities that were not previously deconsolidated. The Wabush Group was no longer generating revenues and was not able to meet its obligations as they came due. As a result of this action, the CCAA protections granted to the Bloom Lake Group were extended to include the Wabush Group to facilitate the reorganization of each of their businesses and operations. Financial results prior to the respective deconsolidations of the Bloom Lake and Wabush Groups and subsequent expenses directly associated with the Canadian Entities are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations.

Refer to NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further discussion of the Eastern Canadian Iron Ore segment discontinued operations.

Investments

Amapá

On December 27, 2012, our Board of Directors authorized the sale of our 30 percent interest in Amapá. Per this original agreement, together with Anglo, we were to sell our respective interest in a 100 percent sale transaction to Zamin.

On March 28, 2013, an unknown event caused the Santana port shiploader to collapse into the Amazon River, preventing further ship loading by the mine operator, Anglo. In light of the Santana port shiploader collapse and subsequent evaluation of the effect that this event had on the carrying value of our investment in Amapá as of June 30, 2013, we recorded an impairment charge of $67.6 million in the second quarter of 2013.

On August 28, 2013, we entered into additional agreements to sell our 30 percent interest in Amapá to Anglo for nominal cash consideration, plus the right to certain contingent deferred consideration upon the two-year anniversary of the closing. However, no contingent deferred consideration was earned upon the two-year anniversary. The closing was conditional on obtaining certain regulatory approvals and the additional agreement provided Anglo with an option to request that we transfer our interest in Amapá directly to Zamin.  Anglo exercised this option and the transfer to Zamin closed in the fourth quarter of 2013. Our interest in Amapá previously was reported as our Latin American iron ore operating segment.

Applied Technology, Research and Development

We have been a leader in iron ore mining and process technology for more than 160 years. We operated some of the first mines on Michigan's Marquette Iron Range and pioneered early open-pit and underground mining methods. From the first application of electrical power in Michigan's underground mines to the use of today's sophisticated computers and global positioning satellite systems, we have been a leader in the application of new technology to the centuries-old business of mineral extraction. Today, our engineering and technical staffs are engaged in full-time technical support of our operations and improvement of existing products.

We are a pioneer in iron ore pelletizing with over 60 years of experience. We are able to produce customized pellets to meet each customer's blast furnace specifications, and produce both standard and fluxed pellets. Using our technical expertise and strong market position in the United States to increase our product offering, we have been working on producing DR-grade pellets. In 2015, we produced and shipped a batch trial of DR-grade pellets, a source of lower silica iron units for the production of direct reduced iron pellets. In early 2016, we reached a significant milestone with positive results from the successful industrial trial of our DR-grade pellets.

With state-of-the-art equipment and experienced technical professionals, we remain on the forefront of mining technology. We have an unsurpassed reputation for our pelletizing technology, delivering a world-class quality product to our customers. We are a pioneer in the development of emerging reduction technologies, a leader in the extraction of value from challenging resources and a frontrunner in the implementation of safe and sustainable technology. Our technical experts are dedicated to excellence and deliver superior technical solutions tailored to our customer base.

Concentration of Customers

In 2015 , 2014 and 2013 we had three customers that individually accounted for more than 10 percent of our consolidated product revenue. Product revenue from those customers represented in the chart below totaled approximately $ 1.3 billion , $ 1.9 billion and $ 1.9 billion of our total consolidated product revenue in 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively, and is attributable to our U.S. Iron Ore business segment. The following represents sales revenue from each of these customers as a percentage of our total consolidated product revenue, as well as the portion of product sales for U.S. Iron Ore that is attributable to each of these customers in 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively:

ArcelorMittal USA

Our pellet supply agreements with ArcelorMittal USA are the basis for supplying pellets to ArcelorMittal USA, which is based on customer requirements, except for the Indiana Harbor East facility, which is based on customer contract obligations. The following table outlines the expiration dates for each of the respective agreements:

ArcelorMittal USA is a 62.3 percent equity participant in Hibbing, as well as, a 21.0 percent equity partner in Empire with limited rights and obligations.

In 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , our U.S. Iron Ore pellet sales to ArcelorMittal were 9.7 million, 10.2 million and 9.5 million tons, respectively.

AK Steel

On September 16, 2014, AK Steel announced an acquisition of Severstal North America's integrated steelmaking assets located in Dearborn, Michigan. We had a long-term relationship to supply iron ore pellets to Severstal's steelmaking assets at that location. Upon consummation of the acquisition, the contract was automatically assigned to AK Steel. The combination of sales pursuant to our preexisting sales agreement with AK Steel and the acquisition of the Dearborn facility with its sales agreement accounts for more than 10 percent of our consolidated product revenue in 2015, 2014 and 2013.

On August 29, 2013 we entered into a new agreement with AK Steel to provide iron ore pellets to AK Steel for use in its Middletown, Ohio and Ashland, Kentucky blast furnace facilities. This contract includes minimum and maximum tonnage requirements for each year between 2014 and 2023.

Under the original agreement entered into with Severstal in 2006, we supply all of the Dearborn, Michigan facility's blast furnace pellet requirements through 2022, subject to specified minimum and maximum requirements in certain years. AK Steel was the successor by merger of this contract and it remains in force. In September 2014, we entered into an amendment to the Dearborn contract with AK Steel to document the 2013 base pricing provisions, among other things, which resulted from an arbitration ruling in May 2014.

In 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , our U.S. Iron Ore pellet sales to AK Steel and the acquired Dearborn facility were 4.3 million, 5.8 million and 4.1 million tons, respectively.

Essar

Essar Steel Algoma Inc. ("Essar") is a Canadian steelmaker and a subsidiary of Essar Steel Holdings Limited. We had a long term supply agreement under which we were Essar's sole supplier of iron ore pellets through the end of 2016 and were required to deliver a set tonnage for less than Essar's entire requirements through 2024. There were multiple contract disputes that led to us filing a complaint in the Federal District Court in the Northern District of Ohio on January 12, 2015. During the litigation process we asserted additional claims of material breach as a result of Essar's actions during the 2015 calendar year.

On October 5, 2015, Cliffs terminated the long term agreement with Essar as a result of Essar's multiple and material breaches and ceased to supply Essar with pellets. On November 9, 2015, Essar filed for CCAA and Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection. We do not currently supply pellets to Essar and whether we will be required to supply pellets in the future is undetermined at this time. The Canadian Superior Court may require Cliffs to supply Essar under the terms of the agreement or other terms. Essar moved the Canadian CCAA Court to enter an injunction requiring us to supply pellets. We filed a motion to remove the case to Ohio due to the CCAA Court's lack of jurisdiction. On January 25, 2016, the CCAA Court determined that it has jurisdiction over the issue. We remain open to discussing supplying pellets on commercially reasonable terms consistent with a just-in-time iron ore supply arrangement. Our obligation during 2015 was also undetermined and was a claim that was to be determined in the U.S. litigation. We delivered approximately 2.5 million tons in 2015 prior to termination for which we received payment, but of that amount, approximately 860 thousand tons were carryover tons. Pricing under the terminated agreement had been based on a formula that includes international pellet prices.

    In 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , our U.S. Iron Ore pellet sales to Essar were 2.5 million, 3.5 million and 3.4 million tons, respectively.

Competition

Throughout the world, we compete with major and junior mining companies, as well as metals companies, both of which produce steelmaking raw materials, including iron ore.

North America

In our U.S. Iron Ore business segment, we primarily sell our product to steel producers with operations in North America. We compete directly with steel companies that own interests in iron ore mines in the United States and/or Canada, including ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel, and with major iron ore pellet exporters from Eastern Canada and Brazil. Additionally, in 2015, finished steel import market share was a record 29 percent in the U.S., up from 28 percent in 2014. As a result, steel utilization rates in North America were recorded at multi-year lows. The reduced demand for U.S. produced steel negatively affects the demand for iron ore pellets within North America.

A number of factors beyond our control affect the markets in which we sell our iron ore. Continued demand for our iron ore and the prices obtained by us primarily depend on the consumption patterns of the steel industry in the U.S., China and elsewhere around the world, as well as the availability, location, cost of transportation and competing prices.

Asia Pacific

In our Asia Pacific Iron Ore business segment, we export iron ore products to the Asia Pacific markets, including China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In the Asia Pacific marketplace, we compete with major iron ore exporters from Australia, Brazil and South Africa. These include Anglo, BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., Rio Tinto plc and Vale, among others.

Competition in steelmaking raw materials is predicated upon the usual competitive factors of price, availability of supply, product quality and performance, service and transportation cost to the consumer of the raw materials.

Environment

Our mining activities are subject to various laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment. We conduct our operations in a manner that is protective of public health and the environment and believe our operations are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations in all material respects.

Environmental issues and their management continued to be an important focus at each of our operations throughout 2015 . In the construction of our facilities and in their operation, substantial costs have been incurred and will continue to be incurred to avoid undue effect on the environment. Our capital expenditures relating to environmental matters totaled approximately $17 million, $33 million and $32 million, in 2015 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively. Approximately $5 million, $3 million and $5 million of the 2015, 2014 and 2013 capital expenditures, respectively, relating to environmental matters is attributable to the North American Coal operations that were sold during December 2015. Additionally, approximately $22 million and $14 million of the 2014 and 2013 capital expenditures, respectively, relating to environmental matters, but excluding any expenditures relating to the Bloom Lake tailings and water management system, is attributable to the Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations that are currently in restructuring proceedings under the CCAA. It is estimated that capital expenditures for environmental improvements will total approximately $26 million in 2016 which is related to our U.S. Iron Ore operations for various water treatment, air quality, dust control, selenium management, tailings management and other miscellaneous environmental projects.

Regulatory Developments

Various governmental bodies continually promulgate new or amended laws and regulations that affect our Company, our customers and our suppliers in many areas, including waste discharge and disposal, the classification of materials and products, air and water discharges and many other environmental, health and safety matters. Although we believe that our environmental policies and practices are sound and do not expect that the application of any current laws or regulations reasonably would be expected to result in a material adverse effect on our business or financial condition, we cannot predict the collective adverse impact of the expanding body of laws and regulations.

Specifically, there are several notable proposed or potential rulemakings or activities that could potentially have a material adverse impact on our facilities in the future depending on their ultimate outcome: Climate Change and GHG Regulation, Regional Haze, NO 2 and SO 2 National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Cross State Air Pollution Rule, increased administrative and legislative initiatives related to mining activities, Mercury TMDL and Minnesota Taconite Mercury Reduction Strategy's evolving water quality standards for selenium, sulfate and conductivity and scope of the Clean Water Act and definition of "Waters of the United States".

Climate Change and GHG Regulation

With the complexities and uncertainties associated with the U.S. and global navigation of the climate change issue as a whole, one of our significant risks for the future is mandatory carbon legislation. Policymakers are in the design process of carbon regulation at the state, regional, national and international levels. The current regulatory patchwork of carbon compliance schemes presents a challenge for multi-facility entities to identify their near-term risks. Amplifying the uncertainty, the dynamic forward outlook for carbon regulation presents a challenge to large industrial companies to assess the long-term net impacts of carbon compliance costs on their operations. Our exposure on this issue includes both the direct and indirect financial risks associated with the regulation of GHG emissions, as well as potential physical risks associated with climate change. We are continuing to review the physical risks related to climate change utilizing a formal risk management process. As an energy-intensive business, our GHG emissions inventory captures a broad range of emissions sources, such as iron ore furnaces and kilns, diesel mining equipment and our wholly owned Silver Bay power generation plant, among others. As such, our most significant regulatory risks are: (1) the costs associated with on-site emissions levels (direct impacts), and (2) the costs passed through to us from power generators and distillate fuel suppliers (indirect impacts).

Internationally, mechanisms to reduce emissions are being implemented in various countries, with differing designs and stringency, according to resources, economic structure and politics. We expect that momentum to extend carbon regulation will continue with passage of the "Paris Climate Agreement" to keep global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius . Continued political attention to issues concerning climate change, the role of human activity in it and potential mitigation through regulation may have a material impact on the company's customer base, operations and financial results in the future.

In the U.S., federal carbon regulation potentially presents a significantly greater impact to our operations. To date, the U.S. Congress has not legislated carbon constraints. In the absence of comprehensive federal carbon legislation, numerous state, regional, and federal regulatory initiatives are under development or are becoming effective, thereby creating a disjointed approach to carbon control. On May 13, 2010, the U.S. EPA promulgated the GHG Tailoring Rule establishing a mechanism for regulating GHG emissions from facilities through the Prevention of Significant Deterioration permitting program under the CAA. Under the GHG Tailoring Rule, as modified by the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding some components of the rule, new projects that increase GHG emissions by a significant amount (generally more than 75,000 tons of CO 2 emissions per year) are subject to the PSD requirements, including the installation of best available control technology, if the project also significantly increases emissions of at least one non-GHG regulated criteria pollutant. We do not expect the Tailoring Rule provision to materially adversely affect our business in the near term and we cannot reliably estimate the long term impact of the regulation.

On June 25, 2013, President Obama issued a memorandum directing the EPA to develop carbon emission standards for both new and existing power plants under the Clean Air Act's NSPS. On October 23, 2015, EPA promulgated the "Clean Power Plan" which consists of NSPS regulating carbon dioxide from existing power plants at a level of approximately 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. States must submit Clean Power Plan SIPs by September 2016, though extension waivers until 2018 are available. These rules do not affect our Silver Bay combined heat and power generating facility. We anticipate that EPA will continue to work on additional GHG NSPS regulations for other industrial categories, including the iron and steel industry, however we cannot reliably estimate the timing or long term impact of future NSPS regulations.

Due to the EPA's Tailoring Rule and GHG NSPS regulations our business and customer base could suffer negative financial impacts over time as a result of increased energy, environmental and other costs in order to comply with the limitations that would be imposed on greenhouse gas emissions. We believe our exposure can be reduced substantially by numerous factors, including currently contemplated regulatory flexibility mechanisms, such as allowance allocations, fixed process emissions exemptions, offsets and international provisions; emissions reduction opportunities, including energy efficiency, biofuels, fuel flexibility, emerging shale gas, coal mine methane offset reduction; and business opportunities associated with pursuing combined heat and power partnerships and new products, including DRI pellets, fluxed pellets and other technology.

We have worked proactively to develop a comprehensive, enterprise-wide GHG management strategy aimed at considering all significant aspects associated with GHG initiatives to plan effectively for and manage climate change issues, including risks and opportunities as they relate to the environment, stakeholders, including shareholders and the public, legislative and regulatory developments, operations, products and markets.

Regional Haze

In June 2005, the EPA finalized amendments to its regional haze rules. The rules require states establish goals and emission reduction strategies for improving visibility in all Class I national parks and wilderness areas. Among the states with Class I areas are Michigan and Minnesota in which we currently own and manage mining operations. The first phase of the regional haze rule (2008-2018) requires analysis and installation of BART on eligible emission sources and incorporation of BART and associated emission limits into SIPs.

Minnesota submitted a regional haze SIP to the EPA on December 30, 2009, and a supplement to the SIP on May 8, 2012. Michigan submitted its regional haze SIP to the EPA on November 5, 2010. During the second quarter of 2012, the EPA also sent information requests to all taconite facilities requesting information on SO 2 and NOx emissions and control technology assessments. On June 12, 2012, the EPA approved revisions to the Minnesota SIP addressing regional haze, but also announced it was deferring action on emission limitations that Minnesota intended to represent BART for taconite facilities. On August 15, 2012, the EPA proposed to deny the Michigan and Minnesota taconite SIP BART determinations and simultaneously proposed a separate FIP for taconite facilities. During the comment period for the proposed FIP rule, the taconite industry and other stakeholders developed detailed comments and shared information to address furnace specific case-by-case circumstances. On January 15, 2013, the EPA signed the final FIP for taconite facilities. The final FIP reflects progress toward a more technically and economically feasible regional haze implementation plan and eliminates the need for investing in additional SO 2 emission control equipment. However, we remain concerned about the technical and economic feasibility of EPA's BART determination for NOx emissions and we filed a petition for review in the 8 th Circuit Court and subsequently received a judicial stay of the FIP which enabled us to conduct a detailed engineering analysis to determine the impact of the regulations on each unique iron ore indurating furnace affected by this rule. The results of this analysis enabled us to reach a settlement with EPA which was incorporated into an amended rule and public noticed in the Federal Register on October 22, 2015. Cost estimates associated with the settlement are reflected in our 5-year capital plan.

NO 2 and SO 2 National Ambient Air Quality Standards

During the first half of 2010, the EPA promulgated rules that require states to use a combination of air quality monitoring and computer modeling to determine areas of each state that are in attainment with new NO 2 and SO 2 standards and those areas that are not in attainment with such standards. During the third quarter of 2011, the EPA issued guidance to the regulated community on conducting refined air quality dispersion modeling and implementing the new NO 2 and SO 2 standards. During June 2011, our Minnesota iron ore mining operations received a request from the MPCA to develop modeling and compliance plans by which each facility would demonstrate compliance with the NO 2 and SO 2 NAAQS pursuant to the Taconite Regional Haze SIP Long Term Strategy (LTS). Compliance with the LTS modeling demonstrations was originally set for June 30, 2017. On August 20, 2015, EPA released its final Data Requirement Rule (DRR) for characterizing SO 2 sources under the 2010 1 Hr SO 2 NAAQS. Cliffs' operation subject to the SO 2 DRR, Northshore Mining, is anticipated to demonstrate compliance with the SO 2 DRR without incurring additional capital investment. All of our other operations in Minnesota and Michigan are expected to be in attainment for NO 2 and SO 2 NAAQS without incurring additional capital investment. Further, Minnesota is expected to remove NAAQS modeling obligations under the LTS in light of reduction in haze emissions associated with pending amendment of the taconite Regional Haze FIP regulations. While we will continue to monitor these developments and assess potential impacts to Cliffs, we do not anticipate further capital investments will be necessary for the pending NO 2 and SO 2 DRR SIP rulemaking.

Cross State Air Pollution Rule

On July 6, 2011, the EPA promulgated the CSAPR, which was intended to be an emissions trading rule for SO 2 and NOx. Northshore's Silver Bay Power Plant would have been subject to this rule; however Minnesota elected to follow EPA guidance allowing CSAPR to stand as BART. CSAPR was vacated by the D.C. Circuit Court during the third quarter of 2012. Late in 2014, the Supreme Court re-instated CSAPR with an effective date of January 1, 2015, re-instating the obligations of this rule for Silver Bay Power. In January, 2016, the 8 th Circuit Court of Appeals re-affirmed EPA use of CSAPR is equal to or better than BART. Immediate compliance obligations are being met at this time, with the material obligation being procurement of the first year of emissions allowances by March 2016 for the 2015 operating year. Silver Bay Power has installed low NOx burners to reduce emissions that will limit the cost exposure to the emission trading market. The allowance pricing market indicates the annual costs to comply with CSAPR will be less than $0.2 million for 2015 and future allowance prices are anticipated to remain favorable under the existing framework. While we will continue to monitor the availability and pricing of CSAPR allowances and future EPA allocations of CSAPR allowances to Northshore's Silver Bay Power Plant, we do not anticipate exposure to material costs for existing CSAPR obligations and we cannot reasonably estimate the long term impact of CSAPR should EPA reduce the allocations in response to future lower ozone or PM2.5 regulations.

Mercury TMDL and Minnesota Taconite Mercury Reduction Strategy

TMDL regulations are contained in the Clean Water Act.  As a part of Minnesota's Mercury TMDL Implementation Plan, in cooperation with the MPCA, the taconite industry developed a Taconite Mercury Reduction Strategy and signed a voluntary agreement in 2009 to effectuate its terms.  The strategy includes a 75 percent target reduction of mercury air emissions from Minnesota pellet plants collectively by 2025.  It recognizes that mercury emission control technology currently does not exist and will be pursued through a research effort.  According to the voluntary agreement, any developed technology must meet the "adaptive management criteria" such that the technology must be economically feasible, must not impact pellet quality, and must not cause excessive corrosion in pellet furnaces, associated duct work and existing wet scrubbers on the furnaces.

According to the voluntary agreement, the mines proceeded with medium- and long-term testing of possible technologies.  For Cliffs, the requirements in the voluntary agreement apply to the United Taconite and Hibbing facilities.  At this time, we are unable to predict the potential impacts of the voluntary Taconite Mercury Reduction Strategy.  However, a number of research projects were conducted between 2011 and 2014 as the industry continues to assess options for reduction.  While injection of powdered activated carbon into furnace off-gasses for mercury capture in the wet scrubbers showed positive initial results, further testing during 2013 yielded lower overall potential. Alternate technologies are presently being assessed in our ongoing efforts to develop cost effective mercury reduction technologies for our indurating furnaces.

On September 22, 2014, Minnesota promulgated the Mercury Air Emissions Reporting and Reduction Rule mandating mercury air emissions reporting and reduction. The adopted rule expanded applicability to all of our Minnesota operations and requires submitting a mercury reduction plan in 2018 to reduce mercury emissions from all of our Minnesota taconite furnaces by 72 percent by January 2025. The adopted rule does not include all four Adaptive Management Criteria for evaluating mercury reduction, which were agreed upon in the October 2009 Minnesota's Mercury TMDL Implementation Plan.

To date, there is currently no proven technology to cost effectively reduce mercury emissions from taconite furnaces to the target level of 72 percent that would meet all four Adaptive Management Criteria. We remain concerned about the technical and economic feasibility to reduce taconite mercury emissions by 72 percent and are conducting detailed engineering analysis to determine the impact of the regulations on each unique iron ore indurating furnace affected by this rule. The results of this analysis will guide further dialog with the MPCA regarding our implementation of the requirements. Because development of the technology is in the early stages, any impacts to Cliffs are not estimable at this time.

Selenium Discharge Regulation

In Michigan, Empire and Tilden have developed compliance strategies to manage selenium according to the permit conditions. Empire and Tilden submitted the first permit required Selenium Storm Water Management Plan to the MDEQ in December 2011; and have updated it annually as required. The Selenium Storm Water Management Plan outlines the activities that will be undertaken to address selenium in storm water discharges from our Michigan operations. A prefeasibility engineering estimate for full scale implementation of the storm water collection and conveyance system by November 2017 is approximately $24 million and is included in the 5-year capital plan. A storm water treatment system for both facilities is anticipated sometime before 2025. The cost of the future treatment systems could be significant, although we are continuing to assess and develop cost effective and sustainable treatment technologies.

Tilden's NPDES permit contains a compliance schedule for selenium with a limit of five µg/l that will be effective as of November 1, 2017, at Tilden's Gribben Tailings Basin outfall.  Tilden initiated a prudent and feasible alternatives analysis to further define solutions and cost estimates. An engineering estimate for the selected suite of solutions indicates capital costs will be less than $23 million. In July 2015, the EPA proposed new selenium fish tissue limits and lower lentic and lotic water column concentration criteria which may increase the cost for treatment. We are incorporating this contingency into our planning and treatment technology assessment. 

Definition of "Waters of the United States" Under the Clean Water Act

The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers' promulgated the rule, "Definition of ‘Waters of the United States' Under the Clean Water Act,"  80 Fed. Reg. 37053 (June 29, 2015), which attempted to add clarity to which waters are jurisdictional under the federal Clean Water Act, and will apply to all Clean Water Act programs, including the Sec. 402 and Sec. 404 permitting programs, Sec. 311 spill prevention program and Sec. 401 state certification process.  It is unclear how the federal and state agencies will implement and enforce the final rule, and how the courts will interpret going forward. The regulation may expand EPA's authority under the Clean Water Act to many traditionally unregulated mine features such as mine pits, pit lakes, on site ditches, water retention structures, and tailings basins creating a new burden on our U.S. facilities.  This could further be interpreted to add questionable regulatory authority over the groundwater connections between these features and nearby traditionally navigable waters.  On October 9, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay of this rule while the jurisdiction and legality of the rule are decided in court. We are actively participating in the rulemaking development and assessing the potential impacts to our operations. Because the rule is being litigated, and until the rule is finally implemented, any impacts to Cliffs are not estimable at this time.

Minnesota's Proposed Sulfate Wild Rice Water Quality Standard

The Minnesota Legislature provided $1.5 million in 2011 for a study to gather additional information about the effects of sulfate and other substances on the growth of wild rice, and to support an update to the sulfate wild rice water quality standard originally adopted in 1973 by the MPCA. The MPCA contracted with the University of Minnesota to conduct several research projects as part of this study. Concurrently, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce contracted an independent lab to conduct companion research on the impacts of sulfate on wild rice. In March 2015, MPCA released a draft proposal for protecting wild rice from sulfate, which included a draft sulfate wild rice water quality standard, a draft list of waters where the standard would apply, and criteria for adding waters to that list. The draft wild rice water quality standard is an equation that utilizes measured sediment parameters to calculate a sulfate limit protective of wild rice. The independent research conducted by the independent lab contracted by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce does not directly support the validity of the MPCA's proposed approach. The rulemaking has a legislated deadline for completion of January 15, 2018. Due to the proposed standard being based on measured sediment parameters that Cliffs is not in possession of near our operating facilities, and uncertainty regarding which waters the standard will apply to, the impacts of the proposed wild rice water quality standard to Cliffs are not estimable at this time.

Conductivity

Conductivity, the measurement of water's ability to conduct electricity, is a surrogate parameter that generally increases as the amount of dissolved minerals in water increases. In 2011, the EPA issued "A Field-Based Aquatic Life Benchmark for Conductivity in Central Appalachian Streams" which established a recommended conductivity benchmark of 300 µS/cm for the region. The issuance of a benchmark outside of the established rulemaking process was subsequently the subject of litigation in National Mining Association v. Jackson , 880 F. Supp. 2d 119 (D.D.C. 2012) where the court ruled the benchmark is nothing more than a non-binding suggestion. Three years later in Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, et al. v. Elk Run Coal Co., et al. , 3:12-cv-00785 (S.D. W. Va.), a judicial decision held that levels of conductivity higher than the EPA's benchmark constituted a violation of the state's narrative water quality standards, were unsupported by science and contrary to decisions previously made by the West Virginia DEP and the West Virginia Supreme Court. In 2015, a group filed a petition with EPA Region 5 alleging that Minnesota was failing to properly implement the state NPDES program; and one of the various allegations asserts that MPCA should be assessing compliance with the state's narrative water quality standard against the EPA's conductivity benchmark for the Central Appalachian region. On December 30, 2015, the EPA provided MPCA a draft of the Protocol for Responding to Issues Related to Permitting and Enforcement which indicates that EPA staff will be reviewing available scientific basis in peer reviewed literature as well as promulgated standards. Since the EPA's review has yet to begin and the forthcoming findings and recommendations, if any, are unknown, the exact nature of the risk to Cliffs is unknown; however, direct application of the 300 µS/cm benchmark to Cliffs' Minnesota-based assets may have a material impact.

For additional information on our environmental matters, refer to Item 3. Legal Proceedings and NOTE 11 - ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINE CLOSURE OBLIGATIONS in Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Energy

Electricity

The state of Michigan is a deregulated electricity state, which affords our mines the ability to purchase electrical energy supply from various suppliers while continuing to purchase distribution service from the incumbent utility. As of September 1, 2013, our Tilden and Empire mines in Michigan exercised the right to purchase electrical supply from Integrys Energy Services while continuing to purchase distribution service from Wisconsin Electric Power Company. The pricing of electricity in the deregulated market is based on the Midwestern Independent System Operator Day-Ahead price. Beginning on February 1, 2015, we began purchasing our electricity supply from the Wisconsin Electric Power Company in a regulated fashion as we terminated our contract with Integrys Energy Services. As of February 1, 2015, Wisconsin Electric Power Company is the sole supplier of electric power to our Empire and Tilden mines. As of April 24, 2015, the Tilden and Empire mines executed special electricity contracts with Wisconsin Electric Power Company. The term of these contracts is through 2019. Wisconsin Electric Power Company provides 300 megawatts of electricity to Empire and Tilden at special rates that are regulated by the MPSC. The pricing under these contracts is generally fixed except Empire and Tilden are subject to frequent changes in Wisconsin Electric Power Company's power supply adjustment factor. Empire and Tilden may also incur additional liabilities depending on the outcome of various proceedings concerning MISO's revised cost allocation methodology for continued operation of the Presque Isle Power Plant in Michigan. If FERC were to decide to award SSR costs based on a revised cost allocation methodology applied retroactively, this could result in a substantial potential liability to our Empire and Tilden mines. 

Electric power for the Hibbing and United Taconite mines is supplied by Minnesota Power. On September 16, 2008, the mines finalized agreements with terms from November 1, 2008 through December 31, 2015. The agreements were approved by the MPUC in 2009. The terms of the agreements included an automatic five-year extension that began January 1, 2016.

Silver Bay Power Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of ours, with a 115 megawatt power plant, provides the majority of Northshore's electrical energy requirements. Silver Bay Power has an interconnection agreement with Minnesota Power for backup power when excess generation is necessary.

Koolyanobbing and its associated satellite mines draw power from independent diesel-fueled power stations and generators. Diesel power generation capacity has been installed at the Koolyanobbing operations.

Process and Diesel Fuel

We have a long-term contract providing for the transport of natural gas on the Northern Natural Gas Pipeline for our U.S. Iron Ore operations. At U.S. Iron Ore, the Empire and Tilden mines have the capability of burning natural gas, coal or, to a lesser extent, oil. The Hibbing and Northshore mines have the capability to burn natural gas and oil. The United Taconite mine has the ability to burn coal, natural gas and petroleum coke. Consistent with 2015, we expect during 2016 our U.S. Iron Ore operations will utilize both natural gas and coal to heat furnaces and produce power at our Silver Bay Power facility.

All of our mines utilize diesel fuel mainly for our mobile fleet. Como Oil and Propane supplies diesel fuel to all of our U.S. Iron Ore locations from the Calumet refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. Our U.S. Iron Ore locations are contracted with Como Oil and Propane through the end of 2018.

Employees

As of December 31, 2015 , we had a total of 2,638 employees.

As of December 31, 2015 , approximately 81.0 percent of our U.S. Iron Ore hourly employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements. This percentage includes the U.S. Iron Ore hourly employees that are on lay-off and excluded from the table above.

Hourly employees at our Michigan and Minnesota iron ore mining operations, excluding Northshore, are represented by the USW and are covered by labor agreements between the USW and our various operating entities. These labor agreements that cover approximately 2,000 USW-represented employees at our Empire and Tilden mines in Michigan, and our United Taconite and Hibbing mines in Minnesota had an original term of September 1, 2012 through September 30, 2015. We are actively negotiating with the USW for new agreements at those locations and have mutually extended our agreements indefinitely with either party able to terminate upon seven days' written notice. Employees at our Northshore operations are not represented by a union and are not, therefore, covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Hourly employees at our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations also are represented by the USW. The labor agreement with the USW that covers our represented employees at Bloom Lake is effective from September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2016. The labor agreement with the USW that covers our represented employees at our Pointe Noire facility, is effective from March 1, 2014 through February 28, 2020. The costs associated with the Eastern Canadian Iron Ore employees that are shown in the chart above are not included in our consolidated results due to the deconsolidation of our Canadian Entities in 2015. Refer to NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further discussion of the Canadian Entities.

Hourly employees at our Lake Superior and Ishpeming railroads are represented by seven unions covering approximately 108 employees. The labor agreements that cover these employees reopened for bargaining on December

31, 2014 and we are actively bargaining with the seven unions that represent them for successor agreements. These employees negotiate under the Railway Labor Act, which provides that labor agreements remain in force until replaced by a successor agreement. Under the Railway Labor Act work stoppages cannot occur until the parties have engaged in substantial negotiations, have mediated any disputes and have received a release from the National Mediation Board.

Employees at our Asia Pacific Iron Ore, Corporate and Support Services are not represented by a union and are not, therefore, covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Safety

Safety is our primary core value as we continue toward a zero incident culture at our operating facilities.  We continuously monitor, track and measure our safety performance and make changes where necessary.  Best practices are shared globally to ensure each mine site can embed our policies, procedures and learnings for enhanced workplace safety. We measure progress toward achieving our objective against regularly established benchmarks, including measuring company-wide TRIR. During 2015, our TRIR (including contractors) was 1.71 per 200,000 man-hours worked. 

Refer to Exhibit 95 Mine Safety Disclosures (filed herewith) for mine safety information required in accordance with Section 1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Available Information

Our headquarters are located at 200 Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio 44114-2315, and our telephone number is (216) 694-5700. We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and its rules and regulations. The Exchange Act requires us to file reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Copies of these reports and other information can be read and copied at:

SEC Public Reference Room

100 F Street N.E.

Washington, D.C. 20549

Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330.

The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. These materials may be obtained electronically by accessing the SEC's home page at www.sec.gov.

We use our website, www.cliffsnaturalresources.com , as a channel for routine distribution of important information, including news releases, investor presentations and financial information. We also make available, free of charge on our website, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these documents with, or furnish them to, the SEC. In addition, our website allows investors and other interested persons to sign up to receive automatic email alerts when we post news releases and financial information on our website.

We also make available, free of charge on our website, the charters of the Audit Committee, Governance and Nominating Committee and Compensation and Organization Committee as well as the Corporate Governance Guidelines and the Code of Business Conduct & Ethics adopted by our Board of Directors. These documents are available through our investor relations page on our website at ir.cliffsnaturalresources.com . The SEC filings are available by selecting "Financial Information" and then "SEC Filings," and corporate governance materials are available by selecting "Corporate Governance" for the Board Committee Charters, operational governance guidelines and the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

References to our website or the SEC's website do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on such websites, and such information is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Copies of the above-referenced information are also available, free of charge, by calling (216) 694-5700 or upon written request to:

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Investor Relations

200 Public Square

Cleveland, OH 44114-2315

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT

Following are the names, ages and positions of the executive officers of the Company as of February 24, 2016 . Unless otherwise noted, all positions indicated are or were held with Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

All executive officers serve at the pleasure of the Board. There are no arrangements or understandings between any executive officer and any other person pursuant to which an executive officer was selected to be an officer of the Company. There is no family relationship between any of our executive officers, or between any of our executive officers and any of our directors.

An investment in our common shares or other securities is subject to risk inherent to our business and our industry. Described below are certain risks and uncertainties, the occurrences of which could have a material adverse effect on us. Before making an investment decision, you should consider carefully all of the risks described below together with the other information included in this report. The risks and uncertainties described below include known material risks that we face currently. Although we have significant risk management policies, practices and procedures aimed to mitigate these risks, uncertainties may nevertheless impair our business operation. This report is qualified in its entirety by these factors.

Our ERM function provides a framework for management's consideration of risk when making strategic, financial, operational and/or project decisions. The framework is based on ISO 31000, an internationally recognized risk

management standard. Management uses a consistent methodology to identify and assess risks, determine and implement risk mitigation actions, and monitor and communicate information about the Company's key risks. Through these processes, we have identified six categories of risk that we are subject to: (I) economic and market, (II) regulatory, (III) financial, (IV) operational, (V) development and sustainability and (VI) human capital. The following risk factors are presented according to these key risk categories.

The volatility of commodity prices, namely iron ore and steel, affects our ability to generate revenue, maintain stable cash flow and to fund our operations, including growth and expansion projects.

As a mining company, our profitability is dependent upon the price of the commodities that we sell to our customers and the price of the products our customers sell, namely iron ore and steel prices. The price of iron ore has fluctuated historically and is affected by factors beyond our control, including: steel inventories; international demand for raw materials used in steel production; rates of global economic growth, especially construction and infrastructure activity that requires significant amounts of steel; recession or reduced economic activity in the United States, China, India, Europe and other industrialized or developing countries; uncertainties or weaknesses in global economic conditions such as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the U.S. debt ceiling; changes in production capacity of other iron ore suppliers, especially as additional supplies come online or where there is a significant increase in imports of steel into the United States or Europe; weather-related disruptions or natural disasters that may impact the global supply of iron ore; and the proximity, capacity and cost of infrastructure and transportation.

Our earnings, therefore, may fluctuate with the prices of the commodities we sell. To the extent that the prices of iron ore and steel, including the average hot band steel price, subject to a pricing floor, significantly decline for an extended period of time, we may have to revise our operating plans, including curtailing production, reducing operating costs and capital expenditures and discontinuing certain exploration and development programs. We also may have to take impairments on our assets, inventory and/or goodwill. Sustained lower prices also could cause us to further reduce existing reserves if certain reserves no longer can be economically mined or processed at prevailing prices. We may be unable to decrease our costs in an amount sufficient to offset reductions in revenues and may incur losses. These events could have a material adverse effect on us.

Continued weaknesses in global economic conditions, reduced economic growth in China and oversupply of iron ore and excess steel or imported products could affect adversely our business.

The world price of iron ore is influenced strongly by global economic conditions, including international demand and supply for iron ore products. In particular, the current level of international demand for raw materials used in steel production is driven largely by industrial growth in China. Continued weaknesses in global economic conditions, including the slowing economic growth rate in China, has resulted, and could in the future result, in decreased demand for our products and, together with oversupply of imported products, has and may continue to lead to decreased prices, resulting in lower revenue levels and decreasing margins, which have in the past and may in the future affect adversely our business and negatively impact our financial results. For example, U.S. Iron Ore's realized revenue decreased 23 percent and 9 percent for the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively, while the Fe fines spot price declined 43 percent and 29 percent over the same periods. We are not able to predict whether the global economic conditions will continue or worsen and the impact it may have on our operations and the industry in general going forward.

In addition, due to lower demand for our products and the decline in the prices for our products, we have incurred, and continue to incur, operating losses. We also have significant capital requirements, including interest payments to service our debt. If we incur significant losses in future periods, we may be unable to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to continue as a going concern, we may consider, among other options, restructuring our debt; however, there can be no assurance that these options will be undertaken and, if so undertaken, whether these efforts will succeed.

Capacity expansions within the mining industry could lead to lower global iron ore prices, impacting our profitability.

Expected global growth of iron ore demand, particularly from China, has resulted in iron ore suppliers expanding their production capacity. The supply of iron ore has increased due to these expansions. In the current iron ore market, the increases in our competitors' capacity has resulted in excess supply of these commodities, resulting in downward pressure on prices. This decrease in pricing has had, and will continue to have, an adverse impact on our sales, margins and profitability.

If steelmakers use methods other than blast furnace production to produce steel or use other inputs, or if their blast furnaces shut down or otherwise reduce production, the demand for our current iron ore products may decrease.

Demand for our iron ore products is determined by the operating rates for the blast furnaces of steel companies. However, not all finished steel is produced by blast furnaces; finished steel also may be produced by other methods that use scrap steel, pig iron, hot briquetted iron and direct reduced iron. North American steel producers also can produce steel using imported iron ore or semi-finished steel products, which eliminates the need for domestic iron ore. Future environmental restrictions on the use of blast furnaces also may reduce our customers' use of their blast furnaces. Maintenance of blast furnaces may require substantial capital expenditures. Our customers may choose not to maintain, or may not have the resources necessary to maintain, their blast furnaces. If our customers use methods to produce steel that do not use iron ore pellets, demand for our current iron ore products will decrease, which would affect adversely our sales, margins and profitability.

Due to economic conditions and volatility in commodity prices, or otherwise, our customers could approach us about modification of their supply agreements or fail to perform under such agreements. Modifications to our sales agreements or our customers' failures to perform under such agreements, including modifications or failures to perform due to such volatility, could impact adversely our sales, margins, profitability and cash flows.

Although we have contractual commitments for a majority of sales in our U.S. Iron Ore business for 2016, the uncertainty in global economic conditions may impact adversely the ability of our customers to meet their obligations. As a result of such market volatility, our customers could approach us about modifying their supply agreements or fail to perform under such agreements. Considering our limited base of current and potential customers, any modifications to our sales agreements or customers' failures to perform under such agreements could impact adversely our sales, margins, profitability and cash flows. For example, effective October 5, 2015, we terminated our long term supply agreement with Essar as a result of Essar's multiple and material breaches under the agreement. On November 9, 2015, Essar filed for CCAA and Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection. The Canadian Superior Court may require Cliffs to supply Essar under the terms of the agreement or other terms. Essar moved the Canadian CCAA Court to enter an injunction requiring us to supply pellets. We filed a motion to remove the case to Ohio due to the CCAA Court's lack of jurisdiction. On January 25, 2016, the CCAA Court determined that it has jurisdiction over the issue. We remain open to discussing supplying pellets on commercially reasonable terms consistent with a just-in-time iron ore supply arrangement. In addition to the termination of our long term supply agreement with Essar, other potential actions by our customers could result in additional contractual disputes and could ultimately require arbitration or litigation, either of which could be time consuming and costly. Other potential actions by our customers could also lead to a failure to renew existing contracts, such as our contracts with ArcelorMittal, which expire in December 2016 and January 2017. Any such disputes and/or failure to renew existing contracts on favorable terms, in particular contracts with ArcelorMittal, with whom we are actively negotiating new contracts, could impact adversely our sales, margins, profitability and cash flows.

We are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which imposes, and will continue to impose, potential significant costs and liabilities on us. Future laws and regulation or the manner in which they are interpreted and enforced could increase these costs and liabilities or limit our ability to produce iron ore products.

New laws or regulations, or changes in existing laws or regulations, or the manner of their interpretation or enforcement, could increase our cost of doing business and restrict our ability to operate our business or execute our strategies. This includes, among other things, the possible taxation under U.S. law of certain income from foreign operations, compliance costs and enforcement under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and costs associated with complying with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and the regulations promulgated thereunder. In addition, we are subject to various federal, provincial, state and local laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we have operations for human health and safety, air quality, water pollution, plant, wetlands, natural resources and wildlife protection, reclamation and restoration of mining properties, the discharge of materials into the environment, the effects that mining has on groundwater quality,

conductivity and availability, and related matters. Numerous governmental permits and approvals are required for our operations. We cannot be certain that we have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with such laws, regulations, permits and approvals. If we violate or fail to comply with these laws, regulations, permits or approvals, we could be fined or otherwise sanctioned by regulators. Compliance with the complex and extensive laws and regulations to which we are subject imposes substantial costs, which we expect will continue to increase over time because of increased regulatory oversight, adoption of increasingly stringent environmental standards, and increased demand for remediation services leading to shortages of equipment, supplies and labor, as well as other factors.

Specifically, there are several notable proposed or recently enacted rulemakings or activities to which we would be subject or that would further regulate and/or tax our customers, namely the North American integrated steel producer customers that may also require us or our customers to reduce or otherwise change operations significantly or incur significant additional costs, depending on their ultimate outcome. These emerging or recently enacted rules and regulations include: numerous air regulations, such as climate change and greenhouse gas regulation, regional haze regulation, NAAQS including but not limited to those for NO 2 and SO 2 , the CSAPR; Minnesota's Mercury Air Emissions Reporting and Reduction Rule, Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load requirements and Taconite Mercury Reduction Strategy, selenium discharge regulation; expansion of federal jurisdictional authority to regulate groundwater, and various other water quality regulations. Such new or more stringent legislation, regulations, interpretations or orders, when enacted, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or profitability.

Although the numerous regulations, operating permits and our management systems mitigate potential impacts to the environment, our operations may impact inadvertently the environment or cause exposure to hazardous substances, which could result in material liabilities to us.

Our operations currently use and have used in the past, hazardous materials, and, from time to time, we have generated solid and hazardous waste. We may be subject to claims under federal, provincial, state and local laws and regulations for toxic torts, natural resource damages and other damages as well as for the investigation and clean-up of soil, surface water, sediments, groundwater and other natural resources. Such claims for damages and reclamation may arise out of current or former conditions at sites that we own, lease or operate currently, as well as sites that we or our acquired companies have owned, leased or operated, and at contaminated sites that have always been owned, leased or operated by our joint-venture partners. Our liability for such claims may be joint and several, so that we may be held responsible for more than our share of the contamination or other damages, or even for the entire share. We are subject to a variety of potential liability exposures arising, or otherwise involved in investigation and remediation activities, at certain sites. In addition to currently owned, leased or operated sites, these include sites where we formerly conducted iron ore and/or coal mining or processing or other operations, inactive sites that we currently own, predecessor sites, acquired sites, leased land sites and third-party waste disposal sites. We may be named as a responsible party at other sites in the future and we cannot be certain that the costs associated with these additional sites will not be material.

We also could be subject to litigation for alleged bodily injuries arising from claimed exposure to hazardous substances allegedly used, released, or disposed of by us. In particular, we and certain of our subsidiaries were involved in various claims relating to the exposure of asbestos and silica to seamen who sailed until the mid-1980s on the Great Lakes vessels formerly owned and operated by certain of our subsidiaries. While several hundred of these claims against us had been combined in a multidistrict litigation docket and have since been dismissed and/or settled for non-material amounts, there remains a possibility that similar types of claims could be filed in the future.

Environmental impacts as a result of our operations, including exposures to hazardous substances or wastes associated with our operations, could result in costs and liabilities that could materially and adversely affect our margins, cash flow or profitability .

We may be unable to obtain and renew permits necessary for our operations or be required to provide additional financial assurance, which could reduce our production, cash flows, profitability and available liquidity. We also could face significant permit and approval requirements that could delay our commencement or continuation of existing or new production operations which, in turn, could affect materially our cash flows, profitability and available liquidity.

Prior to commencement of mining, we must submit to and obtain approval from the appropriate regulatory authority of plans showing where and how mining and reclamation operations are to occur. These plans must include information such as the location of mining areas, stockpiles, surface waters, haul roads, tailings basins and drainage from mining operations. All requirements imposed by any such authority, may be costly and time-consuming and may delay commencement or continuation of exploration or production operations.

Mining companies must obtain numerous permits that impose strict conditions on various environmental and safety matters in connection with iron ore mining. These include permits issued by various federal, state and provincial agencies and regulatory bodies. The permitting rules are complex and may change over time, making our ability to comply with the applicable requirements more difficult or impractical and costly, possibly precluding the continuance of ongoing operations or the development of future mining operations. Interpretations of rules may also change over time and may lead to requirements, such as additional financial assurance, making it more costly to comply. The public, including special interest groups and individuals, have certain rights under various statutes to comment upon, submit objections to, and otherwise engage in the permitting process, including bringing citizens' lawsuits to challenge such permits or mining activities. Accordingly, required permits may not be issued or renewed in a timely fashion (or at all), or permits issued or renewed may be conditioned in a manner that may restrict our ability to efficiently conduct our mining activities, including the requirement for additional financial assurances that we may not be able to provide on commercially reasonable terms or at all and which would further limit our borrowing base under our ABL Facility. Such inefficiencies could reduce our production, cash flows, profitability and available liquidity.

A substantial majority of our sales are made under term supply agreements to a limited number of customers that contain price-adjustment clauses that could affect adversely the stability and profitability of our operations.

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2015, a majority of our U.S. Iron Ore sales and our Asia Pacific Iron Ore sales were made under term supply agreements to a limited number of customers. More than 72 percent of our revenue is derived from the North American integrated steel industry. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2015, three customers together accounted for more than 93 percent of our U.S. Iron Ore product sales revenues (representing 70 percent of our consolidated revenues). Our Asia Pacific Iron Ore contracts are due to expire at various dates until March 2017 for the majority of our Chinese customers and March 2016 for the remainder of our Chinese customers and our Japanese and Korean customers. As of December 31, 2015, our U.S. Iron Ore contracts had an average remaining duration of approximately three years. Although we have contractual commitments for a majority of sales in our U.S. Iron Ore business for 2016, the uncertainty in global economic conditions may adversely impact the ability of our customers to meet their obligations. For example, of the potential customers in the North American integrated steel industry, two are in reorganization, and certain others have experienced financial difficulties. We cannot be certain that we will be able to renew or replace existing term supply agreements at approximately the same volume levels, prices or with similar profit margins when they expire. A loss of sales to our existing customers could have a substantial negative impact on our sales, margins, cash flows and profitability.

Our existing and future indebtedness may limit cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business, which could prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under our senior notes.

As of December 31, 2015, we had an aggregate principal amount of $2,898.2 million of total debt, $1,084.2 million of which was secured (excluding outstanding letters of credit, $97 million of equipment loans, and $74 million of capital leases), and $285.2 million of cash on our balance sheet. As of December 31, 2015, no loans were drawn under the credit facility and we had total availability of $366.0 million as a result of borrowing base limitations. As of December 31, 2015, the principal amount of letters of credit obligations totaled $186.3 million and foreign exchange hedge obligations totaled $0.5 million, thereby further reducing available borrowing capacity on our credit facility to $179.2 million.

Our substantial level of indebtedness has required us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of debt service, reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes. Moreover, our level of indebtedness could have further consequences, including, increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic or industry conditions, limiting our ability to obtain additional financing in the future to enable us to react to changes in our business, or placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to businesses in our industry that have less indebtedness.

Our substantial level of indebtedness could limit our ability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms or at all for working capital, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes. Our liquidity needs could vary significantly and may be affected by general economic conditions, industry trends, performance and many other factors not within our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations in the future to service our debt, we may be required to refinance all or a portion of our existing debt. However, we may not be able to obtain any such new or additional debt on favorable terms or at all.

Any failure to comply with covenants in the instruments governing our debt could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, would have a material adverse effect on us.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our debt, and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our debt, which may not be successful.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations, including our senior notes, and to fund planned capital expenditures and expansion efforts and any strategic alliances or acquisitions we may make in the future depends on our ability to generate cash in the future and our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We cannot assure you that we will maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our debt, including our senior notes.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our debt, including our senior notes. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. These measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. If our operating results and available cash are insufficient to meet our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain the proceeds that we could realize from them, and these proceeds may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due. Further, we may need to refinance all or a portion of our debt on or before maturity, and we may not be able to refinance any of our debt on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Additionally, additional or new financial assurances may be demanded by our vendors or regulatory agencies that we may not be able to provide on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Changes in credit ratings issued by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations could affect adversely our cost of financing and the market price of our securities.

Credit rating agencies could further downgrade our ratings either due to factors specific to our business, a prolonged cyclical downturn in the mining industry, or macroeconomic trends (such as global or regional recessions) and trends in credit and capital markets more generally. The interest rate payable on our senior notes is subject to adjustment in the event of a change in the credit ratings and is currently at the maximum interest rate of 5.95 percent per annum. Any further decline in our credit ratings would likely result in an increase to our cost of financing, limit our access to the capital markets, significantly harm our financial condition and results of operations, hinder our ability to refinance existing indebtedness on acceptable terms and have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities.

We rely on our joint venture partners in our mines to meet their payment obligations and we are subject to risks involving the acts or omissions of our joint venture partners when we are not the manager of the joint venture.

We co-own and manage three of our five U.S. Iron Ore mines with various joint venture partners that are integrated steel producers or their subsidiaries, including ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel. We rely on our joint venture partners to make their required capital contributions and to pay for their share of the iron ore that each joint venture produces. Our U.S. Iron Ore joint venture partners are often also our customers. If one or more of our joint venture partners fail to perform their obligations, the remaining joint venture partners, including ourselves, may be required to assume additional material obligations, including significant capital contribution, pension and postretirement health and life insurance benefit obligations. The premature closure of a mine due to the failure of a joint venture partner to perform its obligations could result in significant fixed mine-closure costs, including severance, employment legacy costs and other employment costs; reclamation and other environmental costs; and the costs of terminating long-term obligations, including energy and transportation contracts and equipment leases. For example, with respect to one of our two Eastern Canadian Iron Ore mines, the Bloom Lake mine, CQIM's joint venture partner did not fully participate in calls for capital contributions, resulting in additional financial burden for CQIM. This additional burden was one of multiple factors in CQIM's decision to file for a stay under CCAA.

We cannot control the actions of our joint venture partners, especially when we have a minority interest in a joint venture. Further, in spite of performing customary due diligence prior to entering into a joint venture, we cannot guarantee full disclosure of prior acts or omissions of the sellers or those with whom we enter into joint ventures. Such risks could have a material adverse effect on the business, results of operations or financial condition of our joint venture interests.

We may not be able to recover the carrying value when divesting assets or businesses.

When we divest assets or businesses, we may not be able to recover the carrying value of these assets, which potentially could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations, shareholders' equity and capital structure. Also, if we were to sell a percentage of a business, there are inherent risks of a joint venture relationship as noted in the risk factor above.

Our ability to collect payments from our customers depends on their creditworthiness.

Our ability to receive payment for products sold and delivered to our customers depends on the creditworthiness of our customers. With respect to our Asia Pacific business unit, payment typically is received as the products are shipped and much of the product is secured by bank letters of credit. By contrast, in our U.S. Iron Ore business unit, generally, we deliver iron ore products to our customers' facilities in advance of payment for those products. Under this practice for our U.S. customers, title and risk of loss with respect to U.S. Iron Ore products does not pass to the customer until payment for the pellets is received; however, there is typically a period of time in which pellets, for which we have reserved title, are within our customers' control. Where we have identified credit risk with certain customers, we have put in place alternate payment terms from time to time.

Consolidations in some of the industries in which our customers operate have created larger customers. These factors have caused some customers to be less profitable and increased our exposure to credit risk. Customers in other countries may be subject to other pressures and uncertainties that may affect their ability to pay, including trade barriers, exchange controls, and local, economic and political conditions. Downturns in the economy and disruptions in the global financial markets in recent years have affected the creditworthiness of our customers from time to time. Some of our customers are highly leveraged. If economic conditions worsen or prolonged global, national or regional economic recession conditions return, it is likely to impact significantly the creditworthiness of our customers and could, in turn, increase the risk we bear on payment default for the credit we provide to our customers and could limit our ability to collect receivables. Failure to receive payment from our customers for products that we have delivered could affect adversely our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.

Our operating expenses could increase significantly if the price of electrical power, fuel or other energy sources increases.

Our mining operations require significant use of energy. Operating expenses at all of our mining locations are sensitive to changes in electricity prices and fuel prices, including diesel fuel and natural gas prices. These items make up approximately 25 to 30 percent in the aggregate of our operating costs in our U.S. Iron Ore locations, for example. Prices for electricity, natural gas and fuel oils can fluctuate widely with availability and demand levels from other users. During periods of peak usage, supplies of energy may be curtailed and we may not be able to purchase them at historical rates. A disruption in the transmission of energy, inadequate energy transmission infrastructure, or the termination of any of our energy supply contracts could interrupt our energy supply and affect adversely our operations. While we have some long-term contracts with electrical suppliers, we are exposed to fluctuations in energy costs that can affect our production costs. As an example, our mines in Minnesota are subject to changes in Minnesota Power's rates, such as rate changes that are reviewed and approved by the state public utilities commission in response to an application filed by Minnesota Power. We also enter into market-based pricing supply contracts for natural gas and diesel fuel for use in our operations. Those contracts expose us to price increases in energy costs, which could cause our profitability to decrease significantly. We are estimating that power rates for our electricity-intensive operations could increase above 2015 levels by up to 9.75 percent by 2020, representing an increase of approximately $6 per MWh by 2020 for our U.S. operations.

In addition, U.S. public utilities are expected to pass through additional capital and operating cost increases related to new or pending U.S. environmental regulations that are expected to require significant capital investment and use of cleaner fuels in the future and which may impact U.S. coal-fired generation capacity. These environmental regulations could force the future closure of the Presque Isle Power Plant in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which supplies electricity to our mines in Michigan.

The availability of capital may be limited.

We may need to access the capital markets to finance ongoing operations, any development of existing mining properties and our other cash requirements. Our substantial indebtedness could make it more difficult for us to borrow money in the future and may reduce the amount of money available to finance our operations and other business activities and may have other detrimental consequences, including the following: requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of principal, premium, if any, and interest on our debt, which will reduce funds available for other purposes; exposing us to the risk of increased interest costs if the underlying interest rates rise on our existing credit facility or other variable rate debt; making it more difficult to obtain surety bonds, letters of credit or other financing, particularly during periods in which credit markets are weak; causing a decline in our credit ratings; limiting our ability to compete with companies that are not as leveraged and that may be better positioned to withstand economic downturns; and limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, and increasing our vulnerability to, changes in our business, the industry in which we compete and general economic and market conditions. If we further increase our indebtedness, the related risks that we now face, including those described above, could intensify. We cannot predict the general availability or accessibility of capital to finance projects in the future.

We are subject to a variety of financial market risks.

Financial market risks include those caused by changes in the value of investments, changes in commodity prices, interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates. We have established policies and procedures to manage such risks; however, certain risks are beyond our control and our efforts to mitigate such risks may not be effective. These factors could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We are subject to bankruptcy risks relating to our Canadian operations.

As previously disclosed, the Bloom Lake Group commenced the CCAA process in January 2015 to address the Bloom Lake Group's immediate liquidity issues and to preserve and protect its assets for the benefit of all stakeholders while restructuring and/or sale options are explored. In May 2015, the Wabush Group commenced restructuring proceedings and, as a result, the CCAA protection granted to the Bloom Lake Group has been extended to include the Wabush Group. Certain obligations of the Bloom Lake Group, including equipment loans, are guaranteed by Cliffs. Financial instruments are posted by Cliffs to support certain reclamation obligations of the Wabush Group. It is possible that (a) as part of the CCAA process (i) claims may be asserted by or on behalf of the Bloom Lake Group or the Wabush Group against non-debtor affiliates of the Bloom Lake Group and the Wabush Group and/or (ii) claims of non-debtor affiliates against the Bloom Lake Group or the Wabush Group may be challenged and (b) creditors of the Bloom Lake Group or the Wabush Group may assert claims against non-debtor affiliates of the Bloom Lake Group or the Wabush Group under the guarantees discussed above. While we anticipate the restructuring and/or sale of the Bloom Lake Group and the Wabush Group assets may mitigate these risks, to the extent that any claims are successful or the Bloom Lake Group's obligations guaranteed by Cliffs are not satisfied in full by any such restructuring or sale, Cliffs could be held liable for certain obligations.

A court or regulatory body could find that we are responsible, in whole or in part, for liabilities we transferred to other entities.

As part of our strategy to focus on our U.S. iron ore operations we have sold or otherwise disposed of several non-core assets. Some of the transactions under which we sold or otherwise disposed of our non-core assets included provisions transferring certain liabilities to the purchasers or acquirers of those non-core assets. While we believe that all such transfers were completed properly and are legally binding, we may be at risk that some court or regulatory body could disagree and determine that we remain responsible for liabilities we intended to and did transfer.

Mine closures entail substantial costs. If we close one or more of our mines, our results of operations and financial condition would likely be affected adversely.

If we close any of our mines, our revenues would be reduced unless we were able to increase production at our other mines, which may not be possible. The closure of a mining operation involves significant fixed closure costs, including accelerated employment legacy costs, severance-related obligations, reclamation and other environmental costs, and the costs of terminating long-term obligations, including customer, energy and transportation contracts and equipment leases. We base our assumptions regarding the life of our mines on detailed studies we perform from time to time, but those studies and assumptions are subject to uncertainties and estimates that may not be accurate. We recognize the costs of reclaiming open pits, stockpiles, tailings ponds, roads and other mining support areas based on the estimated mining life of our property. If we were to significantly reduce the estimated life of any of our mines, the mine-closure costs would be applied to a shorter period of production, which would increase costs per ton produced and could significantly and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

A North American mine permanent closure could accelerate and significantly increase employment legacy costs, including our expense and funding costs for pension and other postretirement benefit obligations. A number of employees would be eligible for immediate retirement under special eligibility rules that apply upon a mine closure. All employees eligible for immediate retirement under the pension plans at the time of the permanent mine closure also could be eligible for postretirement health and life insurance benefits, thereby accelerating our obligation to provide these benefits. Certain mine closures would precipitate a pension closure liability significantly greater than an ongoing operation liability. Finally, a permanent mine closure could trigger severance-related obligations, which can equal up to sixteen weeks of pay per employee in some jurisdictions, depending on length of service. As a result, the closure of one or more of our mines could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

At the end of March 2014, we idled our Wabush Scully mine in Newfoundland and Labrador, and in the fourth quarter of 2014, we began to implement the permanent closure plan for the mine. Additionally, we disclosed in November 2014 that we were pursuing exit options for our Bloom Lake mine and as disclosed in January 2015, active production at Bloom Lake mine completely ceased and the mine transitioned to "care-and-maintenance" mode. To mitigate closure costs in connection with the potential shutdown of the Bloom Lake mine, our Canadian affiliates that operate the mine commenced restructuring proceedings under the CCAA. However, there can be no assurance that we will not have any material obligations in connection with the potential shutdown of the Bloom Lake mine despite the CCAA filing.

Our sales and competitive position depend on the ability to transport our products to our customers at competitive rates and in a timely manner.

In our U.S. Iron Ore operations, disruption of the lake and rail transportation services because of weather-related problems, including ice and winter weather conditions on the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence Seaway, climate change, strikes, lock-outs, or other events and lack of alternative transportation sources, could impair our ability to supply iron ore to our customers at competitive rates or in a timely manner and, thus, could adversely affect our sales, margins and profitability. Further, reduced dredging and environmental changes, particularly at Great Lakes ports, could impact negatively our ability to move our iron ore products because lower water levels restrict the tonnage that vessels can haul, resulting in higher freight rates.

Our Asia Pacific Iron Ore operations also are dependent upon rail and port capacity. Disruptions in rail service or availability of dock capacity could similarly impair our ability to supply iron ore to our customers, thereby adversely affecting our sales and profitability. In addition, our Asia Pacific Iron Ore operations are also in direct competition with the major world seaborne exporters of iron ore and our customers face higher transportation costs than most other Australian producers to ship our products to the Asian markets because of the location of our major shipping port on the south coast of Australia. Further, increases in transportation costs, including volatile fuel rates, decreased availability of ocean vessels or changes in such costs relative to transportation costs incurred by our competitors could make our products less competitive, restrict our access to certain markets and have an adverse effect on our sales, margins and profitability.

Natural disasters, weather conditions, disruption of energy, unanticipated geological conditions, equipment failures, and other unexpected events may lead our customers, our suppliers or our facilities to curtail production or shut down operations.

Operating levels within the mining industry are subject to unexpected conditions and events that are beyond the industry's control. Those events could cause industry members or their suppliers to curtail production or shut down a portion or all of their operations, which could reduce the demand for our iron ore products, and could affect adversely our sales, margins and profitability.

Interruptions in production capabilities inevitably will increase our production costs and reduce our profitability. We do not have meaningful excess capacity for current production needs, and we are not able to quickly increase production or re-start production at one mine to offset an interruption in production at another mine. Additionally, re-start production costs can be even higher if required to be taken during extremely cold weather conditions.

A portion of our production costs are fixed regardless of current operating levels. As noted, our operating levels are subject to conditions beyond our control that can delay deliveries or increase the cost of mining at particular mines for varying lengths of time. These include weather conditions (for example, extreme winter weather, tornadoes, floods, and the lack of availability of process water due to drought) and natural and man-made disasters, pit wall failures, unanticipated geological conditions, including variations in the amount of rock and soil overlying the deposits of iron ore, variations in rock and other natural materials and variations in geologic conditions and ore processing changes.

The manufacturing processes that take place in our mining operations, as well as in our processing facilities, depend on critical pieces of equipment. This equipment may, on occasion, be out of service because of unanticipated failures. In addition, many of our mines and processing facilities have been in operation for several decades, and the equipment is aged. In the future, we may experience additional material plant shutdowns or periods of reduced production because of equipment failures. Further, remediation of any interruption in production capability may require us to make large capital expenditures that could have a negative effect on our profitability and cash flows. Our business interruption insurance would not cover all of the lost revenues associated with equipment failures. Longer-term business disruptions could result in a loss of customers, which adversely could affect our future sales levels and, therefore, our profitability.

Regarding the impact of unexpected events happening to our suppliers, many of our mines are dependent on one source for electric power and for natural gas. A significant interruption in service from our energy suppliers due to terrorism or sabotage, weather conditions, natural disasters, or any other cause can result in substantial losses that may not be fully recoverable, either from our business interruption insurance or responsible third parties.

We are subject to risks involving operations and sales in multiple countries.

We supply raw materials to the global integrated steel industry with substantial assets located outside of the U.S. We conduct operations in the U.S. and Australia. As such, we are subject to additional risks beyond those relating to our U.S. operations, such as fluctuations in currency exchange rates; potentially adverse tax consequences due to overlapping or differing tax structures; burdens to comply with multiple and potentially conflicting foreign laws and regulations, including export requirements, tariffs, economic sanctions and other barriers, environmental health and safety requirements, and unexpected changes in any of these laws and regulations; the imposition of duties, tariffs, import and export controls and other trade barriers impacting the seaborne iron ore markets; difficulties in staffing and managing multi-national operations; political and economic instability and disruptions, including terrorist attacks; disadvantages of competing against companies from countries that are not subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; and uncertainties in the enforcement of legal rights and remedies in multiple jurisdictions. If we are unable to manage successfully the risks associated with operating our global business, these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our profitability could be affected adversely by the failure of outside contractors to perform.

Asia Pacific Iron Ore uses contractors to handle many of the operational phases of their mining and processing operations and, therefore, we are subject to the performance of outside companies on key production areas. A failure of any of these contractors to perform in a significant way would result in additional costs for us, which also could affect adversely our production rates and results of operations.

We may not be able to complete divestitures of our non-core assets at acceptable prices or at all.

As an extension of our re-focused U.S. Iron Ore strategy, we are currently in the process of streamlining our portfolio of non-core assets. Asia Pacific Iron Ore has been identified as a non-core asset and will be considered for monetization. However, we may not be able to sell any non-core assets at sales prices acceptable to us or at all. Gains

or losses on the sales of, or lost operating income from, non-core assets may affect our profitability. Moreover, we may incur asset impairment charges related to divestitures that reduce our profitability. Our divestiture activities may also present financial, managerial and operational risks. Those risks include diversion of management attention from existing businesses, difficulties separating personnel and financial and other systems, adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers. Any of these factors could affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The cost and time to implement a strategic capital project may prove to be greater than originally anticipated.

We undertake strategic capital projects in order to enhance, expand or upgrade our mines and production capabilities. Our ability to achieve the anticipated volumes of production, revenues or otherwise realize acceptable returns on strategic capital projects that we may undertake is subject to a number of risks, many of which are beyond our control, including a variety of market (such as a volatile pricing environment for iron ore), operational, permitting and labor-related factors. Further, the cost to implement any given strategic capital project ultimately may prove to be greater and may take more time than originally anticipated. Inability to achieve the anticipated results from the implementation of our strategic capital projects, or the incurring of unanticipated implementation costs, penalties or inability to meet contractual obligations could affect adversely our results of operations and future earnings and cash flow generation.

We continually must replace reserves depleted by production. Exploration activities may not result in additional discoveries.

Our ability to replenish our ore reserves is important to our long-term viability. Depleted ore reserves must be replaced by further delineation of existing ore bodies or by locating new deposits in order to maintain production levels over the long term. Resource exploration and development are highly speculative in nature. Exploration projects involve many risks, require substantial expenditures and may not result in the discovery of sufficient additional mineral deposits that can be mined profitably. Once a site with mineralization is discovered, it may take several years from the initial phases of drilling until production is possible, during which time the economic feasibility of production may change. Substantial expenditures are required to establish recoverable proven and probable reserves and to construct mining and processing facilities. As a result, there is no assurance that current or future exploration programs will be successful and there is a risk that depletion of reserves will not be offset by discoveries or acquisitions. Given current market conditions, we have curtailed substantially any expenditures related to exploration at or near our mine sites.

We rely on estimates of our recoverable reserves, which is complex due to geological characteristics of the properties and the number of assumptions made.

We regularly evaluate our iron ore reserves based on revenues and costs and update them as required in accordance with SEC Industry Guide 7 and historically, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum's Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. In addition, our Asia Pacific Iron Ore business segment has published reserves that follow the Joint Ore Reserve Code in Australia, with certain changes to our Western Australian reserve values to make them comply with SEC requirements. There are numerous uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of reserves of our mines, including many factors beyond our control.

Estimates of reserves and future net cash flows necessarily depend upon a number of variable factors and assumptions, such as production capacity, effects of regulations by governmental agencies, future prices for iron ore, future industry conditions and operating costs, severance and excise taxes, development costs and costs of extraction and reclamation, all of which may vary considerably from actual results. Estimating the quantity and grade of reserves requires us to determine the size, shape and depth of our mineral bodies by analyzing geological data, such as samplings of drill holes. In addition to the geology assumptions of our mines, assumptions are also required to determine the economic feasibility of mining these reserves, including estimates of future commodity prices and demand, the mining methods we use, and the related costs incurred to develop and mine our reserves. For these reasons, estimates of the economically recoverable quantities of mineralized deposits attributable to any particular group of properties, classifications of such reserves based on risk of recovery and estimates of future net cash flows prepared by different engineers or by the same engineers at different times may vary substantially as the criteria change. Estimated ore reserves could be affected by future industry conditions, geological conditions and ongoing mine planning. Actual volume and grade of reserves recovered, production rates, revenues and expenditures with respect to our reserves will likely vary from estimates, and if such variances are material, our sales and profitability could be affected adversely.

Defects in title or loss of any leasehold interests in our properties could limit our ability to mine these properties or result in significant unanticipated costs.

A portion of our mining operations are conducted on properties we lease, license or as to which we have easements or other possessory interests ("leased properties"). Consistent with industry practice, title to most of these leased properties and mineral rights are not usually verified until we make a commitment to develop a property, which may not occur until after we have obtained necessary permits and completed exploration of the leased property. In some cases, title with respect to leased properties is not verified at all because we instead rely on title information or representations and warranties provided by lessors or grantors. We do not maintain title insurance on our owned or leased properties. A title defect or the loss of any lease, license or easement for any leased property could adversely affect our ability to mine the associated reserves. In addition, from time to time the rights of third parties for competing uses of adjacent, overlying, or underlying lands such as for, roads, easements and public facilities may affect our ability to operate as planned if our title is not superior or arrangements cannot be negotiated.

Any challenge to our title could delay the exploration and development of some reserves, deposits or surface rights, cause us to incur unanticipated costs and could ultimately result in the loss of some or all of our interest in those reserves or surface rights. In the event we lose reserves, deposits or surface rights, we may have to shut down or significantly alter the sequence of our mining operations, which may adversely affect our future production, revenues and cash flows. Additionally, if we lose any leasehold interests relating to any of our pellet plants or loadout facilities, we may need to find an alternative location to process our iron ore and load it for delivery to customers, which could result in significant unanticipated costs. Finally, we could incur significant liability if we inadvertently mine on property we do not own or lease.

In order to continue to foster growth in our business and maintain stability of our earnings, we must maintain our social license to operate with our stakeholders.

As a mining company, maintaining a strong reputation and consistent operational and safety history is vital in order to continue to foster growth and maintain stability in our earnings. As sustainability expectations increase and regulatory requirements continue to evolve, maintaining our social license to operate becomes increasingly important. We strive to incorporate social license expectations in our ERM program. Our ability to maintain our reputation and strong operating history could be threatened, including by circumstances outside of our control. If we are not able to respond effectively to these and other challenges to our social license to operate, our reputation could be damaged significantly. Damage to our reputation could affect adversely our operations and ability to foster growth in our Company.

Estimates and timelines relating to new development and expansion projects are uncertain and we may incur higher costs and lower economic returns than estimated.

Mine development and expansion projects typically require a number of years and significant expenditures during the development or expansion phase before production is possible. Such projects could experience unexpected problems and delays during development, construction and mine start-up or expansion.

Our decision to develop a project typically is based on the results of feasibility studies, which estimate the anticipated economic returns of a project. The actual project profitability or economic feasibility may differ from such estimates as a result of any of the following factors, among others: changes in tonnage, grades and metallurgical characteristics of ore to be mined and processed; estimated future prices of the relevant ore; changes in customer demand; higher construction and infrastructure costs; the quality of the data on which engineering assumptions were made; higher production costs; adverse geotechnical conditions; availability of adequate labor force; availability and cost of water and power; availability and cost of transportation; fluctuations in inflation and currency exchange rates; availability and terms of financing; delays in obtaining environmental or other government permits or changes in laws and regulations including environmental laws and regulations; weather or severe climate impacts; and potential delays relating to social and community issues.

Our future development activities may not result in the expansion or replacement of current production with new production, or any such new production sites or facilities may be less profitable than currently anticipated, or may not be profitable at all, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our sales, margins and cash flows.

Our profitability could be affected adversely if we fail to maintain satisfactory labor relations.

Production in our mines is dependent upon the efforts of our employees. We are party to labor agreements with various labor unions that represent employees at our operations. Such labor agreements are negotiated periodically, and, therefore, we are subject to the risk that these agreements may not be able to be renewed on reasonably satisfactory terms. It is difficult to predict what issues may arise as part of the collective bargaining process, and whether negotiations concerning these issues will be successful. Due to union activities or other employee actions, we could experience labor disputes, work stoppages, or other disruptions in our production of iron ore that could affect us adversely. The USW represents all hourly employees at our U.S. Iron Ore and Eastern Canadian Iron Ore operations owned and/or managed by Cliffs or its subsidiary companies except for Northshore. Our labor agreements with the USW at four of our U.S. Iron Ore operations expired on October 1, 2015, and have since been extended indefinitely. We continue to bargain with the USW in good faith with the expectation that we will be able to reach a mutually acceptable long-term extension of our agreements.  At this time, we do not anticipate any type of labor disruption but s ince we are currently unable to estimate when our labor agreements will be finalized, there is an increased possibility of a disruption at our U.S. Iron Ore operations in 2016.

If we enter into a new labor agreement with any union that significantly increases our labor costs relative to our competitors or fail to come to an agreement upon expiry, our ability to compete may be materially and adversely affected.

We may encounter labor shortages for critical operational positions, which could affect adversely our ability to produce our products.

We are predicting a long-term shortage of skilled workers for the mining industry and competition for the available workers limits our ability to attract and retain employees. Additionally, at our U.S. mining locations, many of our mining operational employees are approaching retirement age. As these experienced employees retire, we may have difficulty replacing them at competitive wages.

Our expenditures for post-retirement benefit and pension obligations could be materially higher than we have predicted if our underlying assumptions differ from actual outcomes, there are mine closures, or our joint venture partners fail to perform their obligations that relate to employee pension plans.

We provide defined benefit pension plans and OPEB to certain eligible union and non-union employees in the United States, including our share of expense and funding obligations with respect to unconsolidated ventures. Our pension expense and our required contributions to our pension plans are affected directly by the value of plan assets, the projected and actual rate of return on plan assets, and the actuarial assumptions we use to measure our defined benefit pension plan obligations, including the rate at which future obligations are discounted.

We cannot predict whether changing market or economic conditions, regulatory changes or other factors will increase our pension expenses or our funding obligations, diverting funds we would otherwise apply to other uses.

We have calculated our unfunded pension and OPEB obligations based on a number of assumptions. If our assumptions do not materialize as expected, cash expenditures and costs that we incur could be materially higher. Moreover, we cannot be certain that regulatory changes will not increase our obligations to provide these or additional benefits. These obligations also may increase substantially in the event of adverse medical cost trends or unexpected rates of early retirement, particularly for bargaining unit retirees.

We depend on our senior management team and other key employees, and the loss of these employees could adversely affect our business.

Our success depends in part on our ability to attract and motivate our senior management and key employees. Achieving this objective may be difficult due to a variety of factors, including fluctuations in the global economic and industry conditions, competitors' hiring practices, cost reduction activities, and the effectiveness of our compensation programs. Competition for qualified personnel can be intense. We must continue to recruit, retain, and motivate our senior management and key personnel in order to maintain our business and support our projects. A loss of senior management and key personnel could prevent us from capitalizing on business opportunities, and our operating results could be adversely affected.

We have no unresolved comments from the SEC.

The following map shows the locations of our operations and offices as of December 31, 2015 :

General Information about the Mines

All of our iron ore mining operations are open-pit mines. Additional pit development is underway as required by long-range mine plans. At our U.S. Iron Ore and Asia Pacific Iron Ore mines, drilling programs are conducted periodically for the purpose of refining guidance related to ongoing operations.

Geologic models are developed for all mines to define the major ore and waste rock types. Computerized block models for iron ore are constructed that include all relevant geologic and metallurgical data. These are used to generate grade and tonnage estimates, followed by detailed mine design and life of mine operating schedules.

U.S. Iron Ore

The following map shows the locations of our U.S. Iron Ore operations as of December 31, 2015 :

We directly or indirectly own and operate interests in five U.S. Iron Ore mines located in Michigan and Minnesota from which we produced 19.3 million , 22.4 million and 20.3 million tons of iron ore pellets in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, for our account. We produced 6.8 million , 7.3 million and 6.9 million tons, respectively, on behalf of the steel company partners of the mines.

Our U.S. Iron Ore mines produce from deposits located within the Biwabik and Negaunee Iron Formation, which are classified as Lake Superior type iron formations that formed under similar sedimentary conditions in shallow marine basins approximately two billion years ago. Magnetite and hematite are the predominant iron oxide ore minerals present, with lesser amounts of goethite and limonite. Quartz is the predominant waste mineral present, with lesser amounts of

other chiefly iron bearing silicate and carbonate minerals. The ore minerals liberate from the waste minerals upon fine grinding.

Empire Mine

The Empire mine is located on the Marquette Iron Range in Michigan's Upper Peninsula approximately 15 miles southwest of Marquette, Michigan. The Empire mine has produced between 3.0 million and 4.4 million tons of iron ore pellets annually over the past five years, of which between 0.8 million and 2.4 million tons annually over the past five years were tolled to Tilden mine. During 2015, Empire was temporarily idled for a summer shutdown beginning on June 26, 2015. The temporary idle ended during mid-October of 2015. The summer shutdown was required due to lower tolling requirements from Tilden mine, a result of reduced demand from our steel-producing customers.

We own 79 percent of Empire and a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal USA has retained the remaining 21 percent ownership in Empire with limited rights and obligations, which it has a unilateral right to put to us at any time. This right has not been exercised. Each partner takes its share of production pro rata; however, provisions in the partnership agreement allow additional or reduced production to be delivered under certain circumstances. As part of a 2014 extension agreement between us and ArcelorMittal, which amended certain terms of the partnership agreement, certain minimum distributions of the partners' equity amounts are required to be made on a quarterly basis beginning in the first quarter of 2015 and will continue through January 2017. The partnership agreement expires December 31, 2016. We own directly approximately one-half of the remaining ore reserves at the Empire mine and lease them to Empire. A subsidiary of ours leases the balance of the Empire reserves from other owners of such reserves and subleases them to Empire. Operations consist of an open pit truck and shovel mine, a concentrator that utilizes single stage crushing, AG mills, magnetic separation and floatation to produce a magnetite concentrate that is then supplied to the on-site pellet plant.

Tilden Mine

The Tilden mine is located on the Marquette Iron Range in Michigan's Upper Peninsula approximately five miles south of Ishpeming, Michigan. Over the past five years, the Tilden mine has produced between 7.5 million and 7.8 million tons of iron ore pellets annually. We own 85 percent of Tilden, with the remaining minority interest owned by a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. Each partner takes its share of production pro rata; however, provisions in the partnership agreement allow additional or reduced production to be delivered under certain circumstances. We own all of the ore reserves at the Tilden mine and lease them to Tilden. Operations consist of an open pit truck and shovel mine, a concentrator that utilizes single stage crushing, AG mills, magnetite separation and floatation to produce hematite and magnetic concentrates that are then supplied to the on-site pellet plant.

The Empire and Tilden mines are located adjacent to each other. The logistical benefits include a consolidated transportation system, more efficient employee and equipment operating schedules, reduction in redundant facilities and workforce and best practices sharing. Two railroads, one of which is wholly owned by us, link the Empire and Tilden

mines with Lake Michigan at the loading port of Escanaba, Michigan, and with the Lake Superior loading port of Marquette, Michigan.

Hibbing Mine

The Hibbing mine is located in the center of Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range and is approximately ten miles north of Hibbing, Minnesota and five miles west of Chisholm, Minnesota. Over the past five years, the Hibbing mine has produced between 7.7 million and 8.1 million tons of iron ore pellets annually. We own 23 percent of Hibbing, a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal has a 62.3 percent interest and a subsidiary of U.S. Steel has a 14.7 percent interest. Each partner takes its share of production pro rata; however, provisions in the joint venture agreement allow additional or reduced production to be delivered under certain circumstances. Mining is conducted on multiple mineral leases having varying expiration dates. Mining leases routinely are renegotiated and renewed as they approach their respective expiration dates. Hibbing operations consist of an open pit truck and shovel mine, a concentrator that utilizes single stage crushing, AG mills and magnetic separation to produce a magnetite concentrate, which is then delivered to an on-site pellet plant. From the site, pellets are transported by BNSF rail to a ship loading port at Superior, Wisconsin, operated by BNSF.

Northshore Mine

The Northshore mine is located in northeastern Minnesota, approximately two miles south of Babbitt, Minnesota, on the northeastern end of the Mesabi Iron Range. Northshore's processing facilities are located in Silver Bay, Minnesota, near Lake Superior. Crude ore is shipped by a wholly owned railroad from the mine to the processing and dock facilities at Silver Bay. Over the past five years, the Northshore mine has produced between 3.9 million and 5.8 million tons of iron ore pellets annually. One of the four furnaces in the Northshore pellet plant was idled in January 2015. We ran a three furnace operation throughout 2015 until the complete idle of Northshore mine in late November 2015. The temporary idle is a result of historic levels of steel imports into the U.S. and reduced demand from our steel-producing customers. Northshore mine is expected to be idled at least through the first quarter of 2016.

The Northshore mine began production under our management and ownership on October 1, 1994. We own 100 percent of the mine. Mining is conducted on multiple mineral leases having varying expiration dates. Mining leases routinely are renegotiated and renewed as they approach their respective expiration dates. Northshore operations consist of an open pit truck and shovel mine where two stages of crushing occur before the ore is transported along a wholly owned 47-mile rail line to the plant site in Silver Bay. At the plant site, two additional stages of crushing occur before the ore is sent to the concentrator. The concentrator utilizes rod mills and magnetic separation to produce a magnetite concentrate, which is delivered to the pellet plant located on-site. The plant site has its own ship loading port located on Lake Superior.

United Taconite Mine

The United Taconite mine is located on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range in and around the city of Eveleth, Minnesota. The United Taconite concentrator and pelletizing facilities are located ten miles south of the mine, near the town of Forbes, Minnesota. Over the past five years, the United Taconite mine has produced between 3.1 million and 5.4 million tons of iron ore pellets annually. Currently, United Taconite mine is temporarily idled. The temporary idle began the first week of August 2015 and is a result of historic levels of steel imports into the U.S. and reduced demand from our steel-producing customers. United Taconite mine is expected to be idled at least through the first quarter of 2016.

We own 100 percent of the United Taconite mine. Mining is conducted on multiple mineral leases having varying expiration dates. Mining leases routinely are renegotiated and renewed as they approach their respective expiration dates. United Taconite operations consist of an open pit truck and shovel mine where two stages of crushing occur before the ore is transported by rail to the plant site located ten miles to the south. At the plant site an additional stage of crushing occurs before the ore is sent to the concentrator. The concentrator utilizes rod mills and magnetic separation to produce a magnetite concentrate, which is delivered to the pellet plant. From the site, pellets are transported by CN rail to a ship loading port at Duluth, Minnesota, operated by CN.

Asia Pacific Iron Ore

The following map shows the location of our Asia Pacific Iron Ore operation as of December 31, 2015 :

In Australia, we own and operate the Koolyanobbing operations. We produced 11.7 million metric tons, 11.4 million metric tons and 11.1 million metric tons in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

The mineralization at the Koolyanobbing operations is predominantly hematite and goethite replacements in greenstone-hosted banded iron formations. Individual deposits tend to be small with complex ore-waste contact relationships. The reserves at the Koolyanobbing operations are derived from 10 separate mineral deposits distributed over a 70 mile operating radius.

Koolyanobbing

The Koolyanobbing operations are located 250 miles east of Perth and approximately 30 miles northeast of the town of Southern Cross. Koolyanobbing produces lump and fines iron ore. Mining is conducted on multiple mineral leases having varying expiration dates. Mining leases routinely are renewed as they approach their respective expiration dates. In 2011, a significant permitting milestone was achieved with the granting of regulatory approvals necessary to develop above the water table at Windarling's W1 deposit. In 2013, environmental approvals were obtained for deepening of the Windarling W1 pit and deepening of the Koolyanobbing A/B/C pits. The operations at Windarling have been idled since the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2015 as a result of cost cutting measures.

Over the past five years, the Koolyanobbing operation has produced between 8.2 million and 11.7 million metric tons annually. The expansion project at Koolyanobbing increasing annual capacity to 11 million metric tons was completed in 2012. Ore material can be sourced from nine separate open pit mines and is delivered by typical production trucks or road trains to a crushing and screening facility located at Koolyanobbing. All of the ore from the Koolyanobbing operations is transported by rail to the Port of Esperance, 360 miles to the south, for shipment to Asian customers.

North American Coal

Throughout the majority of 2015, we directly owned and operated two North American coal mining complexes from which we produced a total of 4.3 million tons of coal in 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2015, we sold these two coal mining complexes, Pinnacle mine and Oak Grove mine, marking our exit from the coal business. The sale was completed on December 22, 2015. In 2014 and 2013, we produced 7.5 million and 7.2 million tons of coal, respectively. Prior to December 31, 2014, we also owned a third coal mining complex, CLCC. We no longer own CLCC as the sale of the CLCC assets was completed on December 31, 2014. The production tons above include 2.5 million tons and 2.1 million tons of coal produced by CLCC in 2014 and 2013, respectively. Our coal production at each mine was shipped within the U.S. by rail or barge. Coal for international customers was shipped through the ports of Mobile, Alabama; Norfolk, Virginia; and New Orleans, Louisiana.

As of March 31, 2015, management determined that our North American Coal operating segment met the criteria to be classified as held for sale under ASC 205, Presentation of Financial Statements . As such, all current year and historical North American Coal operating segment results are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations. Refer to NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further discussion of the North American Coal segment discontinued operations.

We own interests in two non-operating iron ore mines in the Canadian Provinces of Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador from which we had been producing iron ore concentrate through December 2014 and produced iron ore pellets through June 2013. We produced 6.2 million and 8.7 million metric tons of iron ore product in 2014 and 2013, respectively, from these two mines. In May 2011, we acquired Consolidated Thompson along with its 75 percent interest in the Bloom Lake property. In the fourth quarter of 2013, our interest in Bloom Lake increased by an aggregate of 7.8 percent , bringing our interest to 82.8 percent in the Bloom Lake property.

As more fully described in NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS , in January 2015, we announced that the Bloom Lake Group commenced restructuring proceedings in Montreal, Quebec under the CCAA. At that time, we had suspended Bloom Lake operations and for several months had been exploring options to sell certain of our Canadian assets, among other initiatives. Effective January 27, 2015, following the CCAA filing of the Bloom Lake Group, we deconsolidated the Bloom Lake Group and certain other wholly-owned subsidiaries comprising substantially all of our Canadian operations. Additionally, on May 20, 2015, the Wabush Group commenced restructuring proceedings in Montreal, Quebec, under the CCAA which resulted in the deconsolidation of the remaining Wabush Group entities that were not previously deconsolidated. The Wabush Group was no longer generating revenues and was not able to meet its obligations as they came due. As a result of this action, the CCAA protections granted to the Bloom Lake Group were extended to include the Wabush Group to facilitate the reorganization of each of their businesses and operations. Financial results prior to the respective deconsolidations of the Bloom Lake and Wabush Groups and subsequent expenses directly associated with the Canadian Entities are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations.

Mineral Policy

We have a corporate policy prescribing internal control and procedures with respect to auditing and estimating of minerals. The procedures contained in the policy include the calculation of mineral estimates at each property by our engineers, geologists and accountants, as well as third-party consultants. Management compiles and reviews the calculations, and once finalized, such information is used to prepare the disclosures for our annual and quarterly reports. The disclosures are reviewed and approved by management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer. Additionally, the long-range mine planning and mineral estimates are reviewed annually by our Audit Committee. Furthermore, all changes to mineral estimates, other than those due to production, are adequately documented and submitted to senior operations officers for review and approval. Finally, periodic reviews of long-range mine plans and mineral reserve estimates are conducted at mine staff meetings, senior management meetings and by independent experts.

Mineral Reserves

Reserves are defined by SEC Industry Standard Guide 7 as that part of a mineral deposit that could be economically and legally extracted and produced at the time of the reserve determination. All reserves are classified as proven or probable and are supported by life-of-mine plans.

Reserve estimates are based on pricing that does not exceed the three-year trailing average of benchmark prices for iron ore adjusted to our realized price. For the three-year period 2013 to 2015, the average international benchmark price of 62 percent Fe CFR China was $96 per dry metric ton.

We evaluate and analyze mineral reserve estimates in accordance with our mineral policy and SEC requirements. The table below identifies the year in which the latest reserve estimate was completed.

Iron Ore Reserves

Ore reserve estimates for our iron ore mines as of December 31, 2015 were estimated from fully designed open pits developed using three-dimensional modeling techniques. These fully designed pits incorporate design slopes, practical mining shapes and access ramps to assure the accuracy of our reserve estimates. All of our remaining operations reserves have been adjusted net of 2015 production.

U.S. Iron Ore

All tonnages reported for our U.S. Iron Ore operating segment are in long tons of 2,240 pounds, have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 and are reported on a 100 percent basis.

Asia Pacific Iron Ore

All tonnages reported for our Asia Pacific Iron Ore operating segment are in metric tons of 2,205 pounds, have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 and are reported on a 100 percent basis.

Alabama Dust Litigation. At the time of the sale of our Oak Grove mine to Seneca on December 22, 2015, three cases were pending in the Alabama state court system that comprise the Alabama Dust Litigation. Generally, these claims were asserted by nearby homeowners alleging that dust emanating from the Concord Preparation Plant causes damage to their properties. The defense and any liability relating to these lawsuits has been assumed by Seneca as part of the sale. As such, we will not continue to make disclosures relating to this litigation.

Bloom Lake Investigation . CQIM, Bloom Lake General Partner Limited and Bloom Lake were investigated by Environment Canada in relation to alleged violations of Section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act that prohibits the deposit of a

deleterious substance in water frequented by fish or in any place where the deleterious substance may enter any such water and Section 40(3) of the Fisheries Act in relation to an alleged failure to comply with a direction of an inspector. The investigation covered several alleged incidents that occurred between April 2011 and December 2014. The Bloom Lake investigation was settled on December 19, 2014, resolving all allegations and included a fine of C$1.5 million and a contribution to the Environmental Damages Fund of C$6.0 million. CQIM, Bloom Lake General Partner Limited and Bloom Lake entered into a Management Directive with Environment Canada which outlines compliance obligations to address these concerns going forward.

Empire NPDES Permit Enforcement. Empire received an enforcement letter on December 22, 2015 from the MDEQ alleging exceedances of the selenium effluent limit in 2014 and 2015. The letter invited Empire to resolve the matter via an Administrative Consent Order. Discussions with MDEQ regarding the foregoing alleged exceedances have not been concluded and the resolution of these matters is uncertain at this time. However, it is not anticipated that the Administrative Consent Order obligations will be material to us.

ERISA Litigation. On May 14, 2015, a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio captioned Paul Saumer, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, v. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. et al., No. 1:15-CV-00954. This action was purportedly brought on behalf of the Northshore and Silver Bay Power Company Retirement Savings Plan (the "Plan") and certain participants and beneficiaries of the Plan during the class period, defined in the complaint as April 2, 2012 to the present, against Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., its investment committee, Northshore, the Employee Benefits Administration Department of Northshore, and certain current and former officers. Plaintiff amended the complaint to name as defendants additional current and former employees who served on the investment committee. The suit alleges that the defendants breached their duties to the plaintiffs and the Plan in violation of ERISA fiduciary rules by, among other things, continuing to offer and hold Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. stock as a Plan investment option during the class period. The relief sought includes a request for a judgment ordering the defendants to make good to the Plan all losses to the Plan resulting from the alleged breaches of fiduciary duties. The lawsuit has been referred to our insurance carriers. On December 16, 2015, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Essar Litigation. On January 12, 2015, The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, Northshore Mining Company and Cliffs Mining Company (collectively, the "Cliffs Plaintiffs") filed a complaint against Essar in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, asserting that Essar breached the parties' Pellet Sale and Purchase Agreement, as amended (the "Pellet Agreement") by, among other things, failing to take delivery of and pay for its nominated ore in 2014, failing to make certain payments under a true up provision, and disclosing confidential information. The complaint also seeks a declaration that Essar is not entitled to receive certain credit payments under the terms of the Pellet Agreement. The Cliffs Plaintiffs seek damages in excess of $90 million. Essar filed an Answer and Counterclaim on February 11, 2015, seeking damages in excess of $160 million for various alleged breaches of the Pellet Agreement, including failure to deliver ore, overcharging for certain deliveries, failure to pay certain credit payments and disclosing confidential information. The parties started the discovery process, with a discovery cutoff date set for October 30, 2015, and a trial date set for December 7, 2015. The parties agreed to attempt mediation of the claims. Two mediation sessions took place on March 7 and April 21, 2015. The mediations were unsuccessful. The Cliffs Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on July 31, 2015, which was granted in part on October 8, 2015. With respect to the Cliffs Plaintiffs' claim that Essar had breached by failing to take its 2014 nomination, the Court found that Essar had breached and had failed to take between 500,000 and 700,000 tons of its 2014 nomination. The summary judgment ruling also dismissed Essar's counterclaim that the Cliffs Plaintiffs had overcharged Essar by improperly measuring moisture levels. With respect to this claim, the Court found that there was "no basis" for Essar's claim that the Cliffs Plaintiffs had breached the contract. On October 5, 2015, the Cliffs Plaintiffs terminated the Pellet Agreement because of Essar's continual breach of the Pellet Agreement. On October 6, 2015, Essar filed motions for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Essar withdrew both motions on October 15, 2015, before any order was entered on either motion.

On November 9, 2015, Essar filed for protection under CCAA in Canada in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United States in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. As a result of the stay related to Essar's bankruptcy proceedings, the litigation in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio was dismissed without prejudice stating that either party could reinstate the case upon application, if necessary, when the bankruptcy proceedings have concluded. Essar moved the CCAA Court to determine that the Cliffs Plaintiffs' termination of the Pellet Agreement was invalid and to reinstate the Pellet Agreement. The Cliffs Plaintiffs have objected based upon inappropriate jurisdiction and other grounds. On January 25, 2016, the CCAA Court determined that it has proper jurisdiction and instructed the parties to determine an appropriate procedure to try the facts in front of the CCAA Court. The Cliffs Plaintiffs filed an appeal of the CCAA Court's decision regarding proper jurisdiction on February 8, 2016.

Michigan Electricity Matters. On February 19, 2015, in connection with various proceedings before FERC with respect to certain cost allocations for continued operation of the Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette, Michigan, FERC issued an order directing MISO to submit a revised methodology for allocating SSR costs that identified the load serving entities that require the operation of SSR units at the power plant for reliability purposes.  On September 17, 2015, FERC issued an order conditionally approving MISO's revised allocation methodology. Parties have filed petitions for rehearing on FERC's order as well as protests against MISO's compliance filing submitted pursuant to the order. FERC has deferred its decision on the issue of retroactive refunds until after it has approved MISO's allocation methodology in full. Should FERC award SSR costs based on the revised cost allocation methodology applied retroactively, our current estimate of the potential liability to our Empire and Tilden mines is approximately $17.1 million.  We, however, continue to challenge the imposition of any SSR costs before FERC and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Pinnacle Mine Environmental Litigation. On June 22, 2010, the West Virginia DEP filed a lawsuit in the Wyoming County Circuit Court against the Pinnacle mine alleging past non-compliance with its NPDES discharge permit. The complaint seeks injunctive relief and penalties. An initial penalty proposal of $1.0 million was offered by the West Virginia DEP in March 2012; however, Pinnacle disagrees with the alleged violations and has met with the DEP to present facts supporting a review and reduction of the proposed penalty. The defense and any liability relating to this lawsuit have been assumed by Seneca as part of the sale. As such, we will not continue to make disclosures relating to this litigation.

Pointe Noire Investigation.  Wabush Mines was investigated by Environment Canada in relation to alleged violations of (i) Section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act, which prohibits the deposit of a deleterious substance in water frequented by fish or in any place where the deleterious substance may enter any such water, and (ii) Section 5.1 of the Migratory Bird Convention Act, 1994.  The Québec Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks also conducted an investigation into alleged violations of Section 8 of the Hazardous Material Regulation, which prohibits the discharge of a hazardous material to the environment.  The investigations covered events surrounding and leading up to the alleged release of approximately 1,320 gallons of fuel oil into the Bay of Sept-Iles on September 1, 2013.  We cooperated with the investigators and agency response officials. In April 2014, the Québec Ministry of Justice filed a penalty charge related to the incident. The Pointe Noire investigation was settled in December 2014. A fine of C$750,000 and C$61,000 in costs were paid. We are anticipating a report by the Québec Ministry related to their assessment of the cleanup activities performed by Wabush Mines and further direction related to requirements for additional environmental monitoring, if any.

Putative Class Action Lawsuits. In May 2014, alleged purchasers of our common shares filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against us and certain former officers and directors of the Company. The action is captioned Department of the Treasury of the State of New Jersey and Its Division of Investment v. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., et al. , No. 1:14-CV-1031. As amended, the action asserts violations of the federal securities laws based on alleged false or misleading statements or omissions during the period of March 14, 2012 to March 26, 2013, regarding operations at our Bloom Lake mine in Québec, Canada, and the impact of those operations on our finances and outlook, including sustainability of the dividend, and that the alleged misstatements caused our common shares to trade at artificially inflated prices. The parties have successfully mediated this dispute and reached a settlement in principle, subject to definitive documentation, shareholder notice and court approval. The lawsuit had been referred to our insurance carriers, who will be required to pay the entirety of the $84 million settlement amount, if approved by the court. The court is expected to schedule a settlement approval hearing. The settlement of this lawsuit, if approved, will have no impact on our financial position or operations.

In June 2014, an alleged purchaser of the depositary shares issued by Cliffs in a public offering in February 2013 filed a putative class action, which is captioned Rosenberg v. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., et al. , and after a round of removal and remand motions, is now pending in the Cuyahoga County , Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, No. CV-14-828140. As amended, the suit asserts claims against us, certain current and former officers and directors of the Company, and several underwriters of the offering, alleging disclosure violations in the offering documents regarding operations at our Bloom Lake mine, the impact of those operations on our finances and outlook, and about the progress of our former exploratory chromite project in Ontario, Canada. The parties successfully mediated this dispute and reached a settlement agreement in principle, subject to definitive documentation, notice to class members and court approval. The settlement provides for a payment to the proposed class of $10 million, which has been deposited into escrow by the insurance carriers. A court hearing, during which the parties will seek court approval of the proposed class action settlement, is scheduled for April 14, 2016.

Shareholder Derivative Lawsuits. In June and July 2014, alleged shareholders of Cliffs filed three derivative actions in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas asserting claims against certain current and former officers and directors of the Company. These actions, captioned Black v. Carrabba, et al. , No. CV-14-827803, Asmussen v. Carrabba, et al. , No. CV-14-829259, and Williams, et al. v. Carrabba, et al. , No. CV-14-829499, allege that the individually named defendants violated their fiduciary duties to the Company by, among other things, disseminating false and

misleading information regarding operations at our Bloom Lake mine in Québec, Canada, and the impact of those operations on our finances and outlook, including sustainability of the dividend, failing to maintain internal controls, and failing to appropriately oversee and manage the Company. The complaints assert additional claims for unjust enrichment, abuse of control, gross mismanagement, overpayment upon departure of certain executives, and waste of corporate assets. The parties have reached a settlement in principle to settle all three cases, subject to definitive documentation, shareholder notice and court approval. Under the pending settlement, the Company will agree to enact or continue various corporate-governance related measures and to pay plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and expenses. The lawsuit had been referred to our insurance carriers who will pay $775,000 for attorneys' fees and expenses to plaintiffs' lawyers. The settlement of these actions will have no impact on our financial position. Following the announcement of the settlement in principle of these three shareholder derivative cases, an additional derivative shareholder action, captioned Mansour v. Carrabba, et al. , No. 16-CV-00390, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against the same defendants and alleging substantially identical claims. This additional lawsuit has been referred to our insurance carriers.

The Rio Tinto Mine Site . The Rio Tinto Mine Site is an historic underground copper mine located near Mountain City, Nevada, where tailings were placed in Mill Creek, a tributary to the Owyhee River. Site investigation and remediation work is being conducted in accordance with a Consent Order dated September 14, 2001, between the Nevada DEP and the RTWG composed of the Company, Atlantic Richfield Company, Teck Cominco American Incorporated and E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company. The Consent Order provides for technical review by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the Nevada DEP and the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe of the Duck Valley Reservation (collectively, the "Rio Tinto Trustees"). In recognition of the potential for an NRD claim, the parties actively pursued a global settlement that would include the EPA and encompass both the remedial action and the NRD issues.

The Nevada DEP published a Record of Decision for the Rio Tinto Mine, which was signed on February 14, 2012, by the Nevada DEP and the EPA. On September 27, 2012, the agencies subsequently issued a proposed Consent Decree, which was lodged with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and was finalized on May 20, 2013. Under the terms of the Consent Decree, the RTWG has agreed to pay over $29 million in cleanup costs and natural resource damages to the site and surrounding area. Under the terms of the Consent Decree, the RTWG is responsible for removing mine tailings from Mill Creek, improving the creek to support redband trout, improving water quality in Mill Creek and the East Fork Owyhee River and long term monitoring of the site. Nevada DEP will oversee the cleanup, with input from EPA and monitoring from the Rio Tinto Trustees. The Company's share of the total settlement cost, which includes this remedial action, insurance and other oversight costs, was $12.2 million. As of December 31, 2015, we had completed all required payments related to the Consent Decree.

Southern Natural Gas Lawsuit.   On July 23, 2014, Southern Natural Gas Company, L.L.C. filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama (Case No. 68-CV-2014-900533.00) against the Company and others.  The suit seeks to prevent coal mining activity underneath a gas pipeline at our Oak Grove property and to require defendants to pay the costs associated with relocating that pipeline.  The suit asserts claims for declaratory judgment and nuisance.  This lawsuit was pending at the time of the sale of our Oak Grove mine to Seneca. The defense and any liability relating to this lawsuit has been assumed by Seneca as part of the sale, including the obligation to indemnify the Company as a named defendant. As such, we will not continue to make disclosures relating to this litigation.

Taconite MACT Compliance Review. EPA Region 5 issued Notices of Violation during the first quarter of 2014 to Empire, Tilden and United Taconite related to alleged historical violations of the Taconite MACT rule and certain elements of the respective state-issued Title V operating permits. While the matter has been referred to the DOJ for enforcement, it is not anticipated currently to have a material impact on our business.

Worldlink Arbitration.  In October 2011, our wholly owned subsidiary, CQIM, along with Bloom Lake General Partner Limited and The Bloom Lake Iron Ore Mine Limited Partnership, instituted an arbitration claim against the Bloom Lake mine's former customer, Worldlink Resources Limited, for material and/or fundamental breaches of the parties' 2007 offtake agreement for the purchase and sale of iron concentrate produced at the Bloom Lake mine. Our subsidiaries filed the arbitration claim with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce pursuant to the dispute resolution provisions of the offtake agreement. Our subsidiaries terminated the offtake agreement with Worldlink in August 2011 due to Worldlink's failure to fulfill its obligations under the agreement and Worldlink's demand to renegotiate the price of the iron ore concentrate in spite of being party to a long-term offtake agreement. Our subsidiaries claimed damages for the breach of the offtake agreement in excess of $85 million and Worldlink counterclaimed for damages in excess of $100 million.  In November 2014, the arbitrators decided in favor of Worldlink and awarded it damages in an amount of approximately $71 million as well as approximately $25 million in accrued interest from the date of termination of the offtake agreement in August 2011 and arbitration costs. This judgment has been included in the CCAA filing of the Bloom Lake Group and will be treated as an unsecured claim.

We are committed to protecting the occupational health and well-being of each of our employees. Safety is one of our core values, and we strive to ensure that safe production is the first priority for all employees. Our internal objective is to achieve zero injuries and incidents across the Company by focusing on proactively identifying needed prevention activities, establishing standards and evaluating performance to mitigate any potential loss to people, equipment, production and the environment. We have implemented intensive employee training that is geared toward maintaining a high level of awareness and knowledge of safety and health issues in the work environment through the development and coordination of requisite information, skills and attitudes. We believe that through these policies, we have developed an effective safety management system.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, each operator of a coal or other mine is required to include certain mine safety results within its periodic reports filed with the SEC. As required by the reporting requirements included in §1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Act and Item 104 of Regulation S-K, the required mine safety results regarding certain mining safety and health matters for each of our mine locations that are covered under the scope of the Dodd-Frank Act are included in Exhibit 95 of Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

PART II

Stock Exchange Information

Our common shares (ticker symbol CLF) are listed on the NYSE.

Common Share Price Performance and Dividends

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices per common share as reported on the NYSE and the dividends declared per common share:

At February 22, 2016, we had 1,274 shareholders of record.

On January 26, 2015, we announced that our Board of Directors had decided to eliminate the quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share on our common shares. The decision was applicable to the first quarter of 2015 and all subsequent quarters.

Shareholder Return Performance

The following graph shows changes over the past five-year period in the value of $100 invested in: (1) Cliffs' common shares; (2) S&P 500 Stock Index; (3) S&P Smallcap 600 Index; and (4) S&P Metals and Mining ETF Index. The values of each investment are based on price change plus reinvestment of all dividends reported to shareholders.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table presents information with respect to repurchases by the Company of our common shares during the periods indicated.

ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") is designed to provide a reader of our financial statements with a narrative from the perspective of management on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and other factors that may affect our future results. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes that appear elsewhere in this document.

Industry Overview

The key driver of our business is demand for steelmaking raw materials from U.S. steelmakers. In 2015, the U.S. produced approximately 79 million metric tons of crude steel or about 5 percent of total global crude steel production. This represents an approximate 10 percent decrease in U.S. crude steel production when compared to 2014. U.S. total steel capacity utilization was approximately 71 percent in 2015, which is an approximate 7 percent decrease from 2014. Additionally, in 2015, China produced approximately 804 million metric tons of crude steel, or approximately 50 percent of total global crude steel production. These figures represent an approximate 2 percent decrease in Chinese crude steel production when compared to 2014. Throughout 2015, global crude steel production decreased about 3 percent compared to 2014.

Throughout 2015, the Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price has been driven down by a combination of reduced domestic steel demand from China and increased global iron ore production leading to excess supply, as well as mining cost deflation and a sharp fall in Australian and Brazilian currencies versus the U.S. dollar. In 2016, we do not expect to see meaningful improvement in iron ore prices without significant changes to the global iron ore supply-demand picture.

The iron ore supply-demand situation has not only adversely impacted iron ore producers, but also the global steel industry. Currently, the global steel industry is experiencing its worst conditions in over a decade, with prices for products falling even lower than those realized during the most recent recession - the 2008 global financial crisis. We believe that very low cost iron ore has contributed substantially to foreign steel exported out of China and other countries into the U.S. market. As a result of these imports, as well as the continued weakening of the oil and gas sector, domestic pricing for steel has been depressed and in turn, our customers' demand for pellets has fallen. In 2016, we expect these conditions to improve as recently imposed duties on unfairly traded steel should curb the steel imports entering the U.S, and as a result we expect to see domestic steel pricing rising throughout 2016.

The Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price decreased 37 percent to an average price of $47 per ton for the three months ended December 31, 2015 compared to the respective quarter of 2014. In comparison, the year to date Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot pricing has decreased 43 percent to an average price of $56 per ton during the year ended December 31, 2015. These large decreases in the Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price were driven by insufficient growth in Chinese demand to absorb the additional seaborne supply. The spot price volatility impacts our realized revenue rates, particularly in our Asia Pacific Iron Ore business segment because its contracts correlate heavily to world market spot pricing and to a lesser extent certain of our U.S. Iron Ore contracts.

As a result of our long-term contracts, for the three months and year ended December 31, 2015 when compared to the comparable prior year, our U.S. Iron Ore revenues experienced a realized revenue rate decrease of 25 percent and 23 percent , respectively, versus the much higher decreases in Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price. Additionally, the first quarter sales tons for U.S. Iron Ore in both 2015 and 2014 include a substantial amount of carry over tonnage from prior year nominations which are priced based on prior year price formulas.

Our consolidated revenues for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 were $2.0 billion and $3.4 billion , respectively, with net income from continuing operations per diluted share of $0.63 and net loss from continuing operations per diluted share of $0.14 , respectively. Net income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2015 was impacted positively by a $392.9 million gain on extinguishment of debt. This was offset by lower sales margin which decreased by $649.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 when compared to 2014 primarily driven by lower market pricing for our products and decreased sales volume partially offset by cost cutting measures and favorable foreign exchange rates. Additionally, results for the year ended December 31, 2015 were impacted negatively by the increase in income tax expense of $255.3 million primarily due to the net increase in the valuation allowance on U.S. deferred tax assets, partially offset by the utilization of net operating losses. Net income from continuing operations in 2014 was impacted negatively by $562.0 million of long-lived asset impairment recorded in the second half of 2014 along with $73.5 million of goodwill impairment recorded in the third quarter of 2014.

Strategy

The Company is Focused on our Core U.S. Iron Ore Business

We continue the strategic shift to a company focused fully on our U.S. Iron Ore business. We are the market-leading iron ore producer in the U.S., supplying differentiated iron ore pellets under long-term contracts, some of which begin to expire at the end of 2016, to the largest North America steel producers. Cliffs has the unique advantage of being a low cost producer of iron ore pellets in the U.S. market. Pricing structures contained in and the long-term supply provided by our existing contracts, along with our low-cost operating profile, positions U.S. Iron Ore as our most stable business. We expect to continue to strengthen our U.S. Iron Ore operating cost profile through continuous operational improvements and disciplined capital allocation policies. Strategically, we continue to develop various entry options into the EAF market.  As the EAF steel market continues to grow in the U.S., there is an opportunity for our iron ore to serve this market by providing pellets to the alternative metallics market to produce direct reduced iron pellets, hot briquetted iron and/or pig iron.  In 2015, we produced and shipped a batch trial of DR-grade pellets, a source of lower silica iron units for the production of direct reduced iron pellets. In early 2016, we reached a significant milestone with positive results from the successful industrial trial of our DR-grade pellets. While we are still in the early stages of developing our alternative metallic business, we believe this will open up a new opportunity for us to diversify our product mix and add new customers to our U.S. Iron Ore segment beyond the traditional blast furnace clientele.

Reviewing All Other Businesses for Either Optimization, Divestiture or Shutdown

We commenced restructuring proceedings for our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore businesses under the CCAA in the first quarter of 2015. During the second quarter of 2015, the CCAA protection granted to the Bloom Lake Group was extended to include the Wabush Group to facilitate the reorganization of each of their businesses and operations. For more information regarding the status of our divestiture of our Eastern Canadian Iron Ore business, see NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further information.

On December 22, 2015, we closed the sale of our remaining North American Coal business which included Pinnacle mine in West Virginia and Oak Grove mine in Alabama. The remaining North American Coal business was sold to Seneca Coal Resources, LLC. The sale marked our exit from the coal business and represents another very important step in the implementation of our U.S. Iron Ore pellet-centric, environmentally compliant strategy. Prior to this sale, it was determined by management as of March 31, 2015 that our North American Coal operating segment met the criteria to be classified as held for sale under ASC 205, Presentation of Financial Statements . For more information regarding the sale and the held for sale classification of our North American Coal business, see NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further information.

As an extension of our re-focused U.S. Iron Ore strategy, we continue to consider further divestiture of the Asia Pacific Iron Ore business. We believe the assets from this non-core segment have value and will only consummate a transaction where we believe the consideration fairly and adequately represents such value. Asia Pacific Iron Ore is a well-recognized and reliable supplier to steelmakers in Asia. As we consider selling this business, we will continue to operate Asia Pacific Iron Ore with very low total capital expenditures for the remaining life of mine.

Maintaining Discipline on Costs and Capital Spending and Improving our Financial Flexibility

We believe our ability to execute our strategy is dependent on our financial position, balance sheet strength and financial flexibility to manage through current demand for our products and volatility in commodity prices. We have developed a highly disciplined financial and capital expenditure plan with a focus on improving our cost profile and increasing long-term profitability. We resized and streamlined our organization and support functions to better fit our new strategic direction. Our capital allocation plan is focused on strengthening our core U.S. Iron Ore operations to promote greater free cash flow generation.

Competitive Strengths

Resilient U.S. Iron Ore Operations

Our U.S. Iron Ore segment is the core focus of our business strategy. The U.S. Iron Ore segment is the primary contributor to our consolidated results, generating 76 percent of consolidated revenue and $352 million of consolidated Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2015. U.S. Iron Ore produces differentiated iron ore pellets that are customized for use in customers' blast furnaces as part of the steelmaking process. The grades of pellets currently delivered to each customer are based on that customer's preferences, which depend in part on the characteristics of the customer's blast furnace operation. We believe our long history of supplying customized pellets to the U.S. steel producers has resulted in a co-dependent relationship between us and our customers. This technical and operational co-dependency

has enabled Cliffs to claim a substantial portion of the total U.S. iron ore market. Based on Cliffs' equity ownership in its U.S. mines, Cliffs' share of the annual rated production capacity is 25.5 million tons, representing 44 percent of total U.S. annual pellet capacity. Long-lived assets with an average mine life of approximately 20 years provide the opportunity to maintain our significant market position well into the future.

We believe U.S. Iron Ore is uniquely positioned in the global iron ore market due to its reduced exposure to seaborne iron ore pricing. More than half of U.S. Iron Ore production is sold through long-term contracts that are structured with various formula-based pricing mechanisms that reference seaborne pricing, inflation factors and steel prices and mitigate the impact of any one factor's price volatility on our business. U.S. Iron Ore's realized revenue rate decreased 25 percent and 23 percent for the three months and year ended December 31, 2015, respectively, compared to a 37 percent and 43 percent decline in the Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price over the same periods.

In addition, we maintain lower costs compared to our competition as a result of our proximity to U.S. steelmaking operations. Our costs are lower as a result of inherent transportation advantages associated with our mine locations near the Great Lakes which allows for transportation via railroads and loading ports. U.S. Iron Ore mines also benefit from on-site pellet production and ore production facilities located a short distance from the mines. These advantages translated to cash production costs in the three months and year ended December 31, 2015 of $45 per ton and $54 per ton, respectively, which included the cost to mine, concentrate and pelletize, certain transportation costs and site administration costs.

Competitive Asia Pacific Iron Ore Operations

Although our annual production tonnage is substantially less than our competitors in the seaborne market, the Asia Pacific Iron Ore business maintains a competitive position with the major Australian iron ore producers. We produce a product mix of approximately 50 percent lump ore and 50 percent fines, which is a significantly higher lump mix than the major producers in Australia. This lump ore commands a premium in the seaborne market over iron ore fines.

Further, our Asia Pacific Iron Ore segment is a cost competitive producer and requires minimal ongoing sustaining capital expenditures to continue our operations. Cash production costs during the three months and year ended December 31, 2015, were $26 per ton and $31 per ton, respectively. Going forward, we will continue to operate Asia Pacific Iron Ore with a clear bias toward cash optimization.

Recent Developments

USW Labor Agreements

Our labor agreements with the USW at our Tilden, Empire, Hibbing and United Taconite mines were scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. on October 1, 2015. Prior to the expiration of these agreements, we agreed with the USW to extend these agreements indefinitely. Either party may terminate the agreements by providing the other party with 168 hours (i.e., seven days) notice. We continue to bargain with the USW in good faith with the expectation that we will be able to reach a mutually acceptable long-term extension of our agreements. At this time, we do not anticipate any type of labor disruption as the USW has committed to "continue working under the current terms and conditions of employment until a tentative agreement is reached."

Pellet Agreement with Essar

On October 6, 2015, we announced that, effective October 5, 2015, we terminated our Pellet Agreement with Essar. Our decision was made as a result of Essar's multiple and material breaches under the agreement. While the agreement has been terminated, we remain open to discussing supplying the Essar steel-making operation in Sault St. Marie or its successor with pellets on commercially reasonable terms consistent with a just-in-time iron ore supply arrangement.

Northshore

On November 17, 2015, we announced that we would be temporarily idling iron ore pellet production at our Northshore mining operation in Minnesota. The idling was a result of a reduction in iron pellet nominations from our customers. Until our domestic customers' blast furnace capacity utilization rates improve, our existing customer demand can be satisfied from our current pellet inventory. We completed the idling of the Northshore mine by the end of November. Our Northshore mine could be restarted and return to normal operating levels if recently filed and forthcoming trade cases were to result in increased pellet nominations from our customers.  Conversely, if increased iron ore pellet demand does not materialize during this period, the idled state of production could be for an extended period of time.  Currently, we anticipate that Northshore mine will be idled through the first quarter of 2016. The temporary idling resulted in reductions in force at the Northshore mine.

North American Coal Operations

On December 22, 2015, we closed the sale of our remaining North American Coal business which included Pinnacle mine in West Virginia and Oak Grove mine in Alabama. Pinnacle mine and Oak Grove mine were sold to Seneca Coal Resources, LLC ("Seneca") and the deal structure was a sale of equity interests of our remaining coal business. Additionally, Seneca may pay Cliffs an earn-out of up to $50 million contingent upon the terms of a revenue sharing plan which extends through the year 2020.

The Pinnacle Complex includes the Pinnacle and Green Ridge mines, which are underground low-volatile metallurgical coal mines. The Pinnacle mine has been in operation since 1969. The Green Ridge mines became operational in 2004. In February 2010, the Green Ridge No. 1 mine was closed permanently due to exhaustion of the economic reserves at the mine. In addition, the Green Ridge No. 2 mine was idled in January 2012. Both facilities share preparation, processing and load-out facilities.

The Oak Grove mine is an underground low-volatile metallurgical coal mine. The mine has been in operation since 1972. Preparation, processing and rail load-out facilities are located on-site.

In 2015, the Pinnacle operations produced 2.4 million tons of metallurgical coal and the Oak Grove operations produced 1.9 million tons of metallurgical coal. In 2014, the Pinnacle operations produced 2.7 million tons of metallurgical coal and the Oak Grove operations produced 2.3 million tons of metallurgical coal.

We recorded a gain on the sale of Pinnacle mine and Oak Grove mine of approximately $9.3 million on a pre-tax basis in the fourth quarter of 2015. The gain is recorded within Loss from Discontinued Operations, net of tax on the Statements of Consolidated Operations .

Prior to the sale, it was determined by management as of March 31, 2015 that our North American Coal operating segment met the criteria to be classified as held for sale under ASC 205, Presentation of Financial Statements . For more information regarding the sale and the held for sale classification of our North American Coal business, see NOTE 14 - DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS for further information.

Preferred Stock

In February 2013, we issued 731,250 shares of 7.00% Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, Class A ("Series A preferred shares"). Under the terms of the Series A preferred shares, when and if declared by our Board of Directors, holders of the Series A preferred shares are entitled to cumulative dividends at an annual rate of 7.00 percent on the liquidation preference of $1,000 per share. On January 4, 2016, we announced that, under the terms of our Series A preferred shares, the final quarterly dividend otherwise payable upon mandatory conversion of the Series A preferred shares on February 1, 2016, would not be paid in cash. Instead, pursuant to the terms of the Series A preferred shares, the conversion rate was increased such that holders of the Series A preferred shares received additional Cliffs' common shares in lieu of the accrued dividend at the time of the mandatory conversion. In accordance with applicable law, our Board of Directors determined not to declare a dividend payable in cash. The number of our common shares in the aggregate issued in lieu of the dividend was approximately 1.26 million. This resulted in an effective conversion rate of .9052 common shares, rather than .8621 common shares, per depositary share, each representing one-fortieth of a share of Series A preferred shares. Upon conversion on February 1, 2016, an aggregate of 26.5 million common shares were issued, representing 25.2 million common shares issuable upon conversion and 1.3 million that were issued in lieu of a final cash dividend.

Exchange Offers

On January 27, 2016, we announced the commencement of private offers to exchange (the "Exchange Offers") up to $710 million aggregate principal amount of our newly issued 8.00 percent 1.5 Lien Senior Secured Notes due 2020 (the "New 1.5 Lien Notes") for certain outstanding notes (the "Existing Notes") of Cliffs, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in our confidential offering memorandum dated January 27, 2016. Eligible holders were notified that they must validly tender their Existing Notes on February 9, 2016 (the "Early Tender Date"), in order to be eligible to receive the applicable total exchange consideration which includes an early tender premium. On February 10, 2016, we announced that as of the Early Tender Date, a total of approximately $465.3 million principal amount of Existing Notes had been tendered in the Exchange Offers. We also announced that the Early Tender Date has been extended to February 26, 2016, and that the exchange consideration for the 3.95 percent Senior Notes due 2018 had been increased. Accordingly, all Existing Notes tendered prior to the extended Early Tender Date will be eligible to receive the total exchange consideration. The Exchange Offers will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on February 26, 2016 and tenders of Existing Notes may no longer be withdrawn after that time, except in certain limited circumstances described in the confidential offering memorandum and related letter of transmittal.

Business Segments

Our Company's primary continuing operations are organized and managed according to product category and geographic location: U.S. Iron Ore and Asia Pacific Iron Ore. As of March 31, 2015, management determined that our North American Coal operating segment met the criteria to be classified as held for sale under ASC 205, Presentation of Financial Statements . As such, all current and historical North American Coal operating segment results are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations. Additionally, as a result of the CCAA filing of the Bloom Lake Group on January 27, 2015 and the Wabush Group on May 20, 2015, we no longer have a controlling interest over the Bloom Lake Group and certain other wholly owned subsidiaries, and we no longer have a controlling interest over the Wabush Group. The Bloom Lake Group, Wabush Group and certain of each of their wholly owned subsidiaries were previously reported as Eastern Canadian Iron Ore and Other reportable segments. As such, we deconsolidated the Bloom Lake Group and certain other wholly-owned subsidiaries as of January 27, 2015. Additionally, as a result of the Wabush Filing on May 20, 2015, we deconsolidated certain Wabush Group wholly-owned subsidiaries effective May 20, 2015. The wholly-owned subsidiaries deconsolidated effective May 20, 2015 are Wabush Group entities that were not deconsolidated as part of the deconsolidation effective January 27, 2015. Financial results prior to the respective deconsolidations of the Bloom Lake and Wabush Groups and subsequent expenses directly associated with the Canadian Entities are included in our financial statements and classified within discontinued operations.

Results of Operations – Consolidated

2015 Compared to 2014

The following is a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 :

Revenues from Product Sales and Services

Sales revenue for the year ended December 31, 2015 decreased $1,359.9 million , or 40.3 percent , from 2014 . The decrease in sales revenue during 2015 compared to 2014 was primarily attributable to the decrease in market pricing for our products, including a reduction of one customer's full-year hot band steel price. Together these factors negatively impacted revenues by $804.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 .

Changes in world market pricing impacts our revenues each year. Iron ore revenues decreased $804.4 million in 2015 compared to 2014 primarily due to the decrease in the Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price, which declined 42.6 percent to an average price of $56 per ton in 2015, and a decrease in one customer's full-year hot band steel price. The decrease in our realized revenue rates during 2015 compared to 2014 was 22.7 percent and 46.4 percent for our U.S. Iron Ore and Asia Pacific Iron Ore operations, respectively. Additionally, there was a decrease in revenues period-over-period as a result of lower iron ore sales volumes of $458.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 .

Refer to " Results of Operations – Segment Information " for additional information regarding the specific factors that impacted revenue during the period.

Cost of Goods Sold and Operating Expenses

Cost of goods sold and operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 were $1,776.8 million and $2,487.5 million , respectively, a decrease of $710.7 million , or 28.6 percent year-over-year.

Cost of goods sold and operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2015 decreased by $335.0 million as operational efficiencies and cost cutting efforts across each of our business units has reduced costs. Also, as a result of favorable foreign exchange rates in 2015 versus 2014, we realized lower costs of $94.6 million. Additionally, there was a decrease in costs period-over-period as a result of lower iron ore sales volumes of $299.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 . These decreases in cost were partially offset by incrementally higher idle costs of $61.5 million due to the temporary idle of our United Taconite mine which began in the first week of August 2015, the temporary idle of the Empire mine which began on June 26, 2015 and then came back on line during October 2015, and the one idled production line at our Northshore mine during all of 2015 followed by the complete temporary idle of Northshore mine in the end of November 2015.

Refer to " Results of Operations – Segment Information " for additional information regarding the specific factors that impacted our operating results during the period.

Other Operating Income (Expense)

The following is a summary of other operating income (expense) for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 :

Selling, general and administrative expenses during the year ended December 31, 2015 decreased $44.7 million over 2014. As a result of the reduction of the workforce, we reduced employment costs for the year ended December 31, 2015 by $16.7 million. There were lower severance costs of $14.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2015 versus 2014. Also, the year ended December 31, 2015 was impacted favorably by $7.8 million due to a reduction in outside service spending and $5.6 million due to a reduction in rent and operating lease spending.

Impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets was $3.3 million and $635.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2014 , we recorded goodwill impairment of $73.5 million related to our Asia Pacific Iron Ore reporting unit. We also recorded other long-lived asset impairment charges of $562.0 million during 2014. The charges were related to our Asia Pacific Iron Ore operating segment, along with impairments charged to reporting units within our Other reportable segments. The impairment charges were primarily a result of management determining that the carrying value of the asset groups may not be recoverable primarily due to long-term price forecasts as part of management's long-range planning process. Updated estimates of long-term prices for all products, specifically the Platts 62 percent Fe fines spot price, which particularly effects the Asia Pacific Iron Ore business segment because their contracts correlate heavily to world market spot pricing were lower than prior estimates. These estimates were updated based upon current market conditions, macro-economic factors influencing the balance of supply and demand for our products and expectations for future cost and capital expenditure requirements.

Additionally, a new CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, was appointed by the Board of Directors in early August 2014 and subsequently identified as the CODM in accordance with ASC 280, Segment Reporting . The new CODM views Asia Pacific Iron Ore as a non-core asset and continues to evaluate the business unit for a change in strategy including possible divestiture. These factors, among other considerations utilized in the individual impairment assessments, indicate that the carrying value of the respective asset group and Asia Pacific Iron Ore goodwill may not be recoverable. Refer to NOTE 6 - FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS for further information.

The following is a summary of Miscellaneous - net for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:

For the year ended December 31, 2015 there was an unfavorable impact of $12.7 million due to the change in foreign exchange re-measurement driven primarily by lower Australian bank account balances that are denominated in U.S. dollars. Also, during 2015 there was an unfavorable impact on Miscellaneous - net due to bad debt expense of $7.1 million that was recorded in the third quarter of 2015 related to one customer.

These unfavorable impacts were partially offset by $7.6 million of insurance recoveries related to the clean-up of the Pointe Noire oil spill that occurred in September 2013. Additionally, net gain on disposal of assets was $3.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2015, compared to a net loss on disposal of assets of $3.5 million in 2014. The net gain on disposal of assets in 2015 was primarily attributable to a $5.0 million gain on the sale of assets and equity related to our Global Exploration Group operations during the fourth quarter of 2015. Results for the Global Exploration Group are reported within our Other reportable segments.

Other Income (Expense)

The following is a summary of other income (expense) for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 :

The increase in gain on extinguishment of debt during the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to the comparable prior year is a result of the corporate debt restructuring and debt repurchases of senior notes trading at a discount, as discussed in NOTE 5 - DEBT AND CREDIT FACILITIES .

Interest expense was unfavorably impacted by $94.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 as we entered into new credit arrangements during the first quarter of 2015. Additionally, the year ended December 31, 2015 was unfavorably impacted by $11.9 million due to unfavorable interest rates, as discussed in NOTE 5 - DEBT AND CREDIT FACILITIES . The unfavorable impact was offset partially by reduced interest expense of $50.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 due to the extinguishment of certain Senior Notes and the revolving credit agreement during the first quarter of 2015, as discussed in NOTE 5 - DEBT AND CREDIT FACILITIES .

Additionally, other non-operating income during the year ended December 31, 2014 included a $7.8 million gain on the sale of marketable securities.