Cleveland-Cliffs Reaches Tentative Agreement with United Steelworkers on New Labor Contract for Michigan and Minnesota Mining Operations

Business Wire, Sept 1, 2008

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE: CLF), which will be renamed Cliffs Natural Resources in the coming months, today announced a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW), on a new four-year labor contract that will cover approximately 2,300 USW-represented workers at Cliffs' Empire and Tilden Mines in Michigan, and its United Taconite and Hibbing mines in Minnesota.

Donald J. Gallagher, President North American Business Unit, commented, "We are pleased to reach a new tentative labor contract that is fair and equitable to both parties. Cliffs' most valuable resource is our employee base, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the USW, which will enable all employees to share in the good fortune resulting from their hard work, and provide us a solid platform for future achievement."

The agreement replaces the current agreement. As the agreement is pending ratification by USW local union memberships and Cliffs' Board of Directors, no additional details will be released at this time.

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Cleveland-Cliffs Inc, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is an international mining company, the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America and a major supplier of metallurgical coal to the global steelmaking industry. The Company operates six iron ore mines in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada, and three coking coal mines in West Virginia and Alabama. Cliffs also owns 85% of Portman Limited, a large iron ore mining company in Australia, serving the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore. In addition, the Company has a 30% interest in the Amapa Project, a Brazilian iron ore project, and a 45% economic interest in the Sonoma Project, an Australian coking and thermal coal project.

News releases and other information on the Company are available on the Internet at:

http://www.cleveland-cliffs.com or

www.cleveland-cliffs.com/Investors/Pages/default.aspx?b=1041&1=1

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

A number of the matters discussed in this document that are not historical or current facts deal with potential future circumstances and developments, in particular, information regarding a new labor agreement, operating and financial data, the company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and whether and when the labor agreement will be consummated. The discussion of such matters is qualified by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally, and also may materially differ from actual future experience involving any one or more of such matters. Such risks and uncertainties include: the risk that a work stoppage may occur and the company's contingency plans are not implemented successfully; the risk that the transactions contemplated by the merger of Cleveland-Cliffs and Alpha may not be completed or the cost savings and any other synergies from the merger may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; changes in demand for iron ore pellets by integrated steel producers, or changes in iron ore demand due to changes in steel utilization rates, operational factors, electric furnace production or imports into the United States and Canada of semi-finished steel or pig iron; the impact of consolidation and rationalization in the steel industry; timing of changes in customer inventories; changes in, renewal of and acquiring new long-term supply arrangements; inherent risks of mining beyond the combined company's control; environmental laws, including those directly affecting mining production, and those affecting customers' coal usage; competition in coal and iron ore markets; railroad, barge, truck and other transportation performance and costs; the geological characteristics of reserves; availability of mining and processing equipment and parts; the combined company's assumptions concerning economically recoverable coal reserve estimates; disruption from the potential work stoppage and transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers; the failure to obtain governmental approvals of the transaction on the proposed terms and schedule, and any conditions imposed on the combined company in connection with consummation of the merger; the failure to obtain approval of the merger by the stockholders of Cleveland-Cliffs and Alpha and the failure to satisfy various other conditions to the closing of the merger contemplated by the merger agreement; and the risks that are described from time to time in Cleveland-Cliffs' and Alpha's respective reports filed with the SEC, including each of Cleveland-Cliffs' and Alpha's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008, as such reports may have been amended. This document speaks only as of its date, and Cleveland-Cliffs and Alpha each disclaims any duty to update the information herein.