A Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. project is seen in Wabush Pointe Noire, Sept-Îles, Que.Handout
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. began court-supervised debt restructuring proceedings for its Wabush assets in Canada, less than four months after the iron-ore producer made the same move with its Quebec unit. By reorganizing Wabush under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, Cliffs can include it with its Bloom Lake assets, which are also being restructured under the act. The Wabush move will "lead to a more effective and streamlined exit from Eastern Canada," Cleveland-based Cliffs said in a filing Wednesday.
Wabush, which has been idled since the first quarter of 2014, produced the steelmaking raw material in Newfoundland and Labrador. Cliffs, the largest iron-ore producer in the U.S., suspended production at Bloom Lake in January.
As recently as 2013, exports of ore mined from Bloom lake were considered critical to the company's future. Cliffs paid C$4.2 billion to buy Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd. in 2011. Since then, the price of the commodity has plunged as Chinese demand has slowed.