Cleveland-Cliffs shares jump 17% as steelmaker looks into rare earths mining

Cleveland-Cliffs The company is considering establishing a rare earth mining business, CEO Lourenco Goncalves told investors on Monday.

Goncalves said in a statement that the steelmaker has two facilities in Michigan and Minnesota where geological surveys have found signs of rare earth elements. Cleveland-Cliffs’ third-quarter profit.

Shares of Cleveland-Cliffs were trading about 17% higher.

“If successful, it would align Cleveland-Cliffs with the broader national strategy for critical materials independence, similar to what we have achieved with steel,” the CEO said. “American manufacturing should not rely on China or any foreign country for essential minerals, and Cliffs aims to be part of the solution.”

Rare earth elements are a major source of trade tensions between the United States and China. They are used to produce magnets that are important inputs in major U.S. weapons platforms, electric vehicles, semiconductor manufacturing and other applications.

China dominates the global rare earth supply chain, and the United States is dependent on Beijing for imports.

There is only one commercial rare earth mine in the United States. The Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with the mine’s owner, MP Materials, in July, which included a stock, base price and purchase agreement.

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