CLEVELAND, Aug. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WEC Energy Group
Inc. (NYSE: WEC) and Cliffs Natural Resources
Inc. (NYSE: CLF) issue the following clarification
statement about project funding for the proposed natural gas-fired
power solution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan:
WEC Energy Group through its affiliates will fund the entire
$255 million investment. Cliffs
and/or its affiliates are not investing any capital toward the
above mentioned project. The proposed solution will be advanced as
a WEC Energy Group investment to be wholly-owned and operated by
WEC and/or its affiliates.
About WEC Energy Group
WEC Energy Group
(NYSE: WEC), based in Milwaukee,
is one of the nation's premier energy companies, serving 4.4
million customers in Wisconsin,
Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota.
The company's principal utilities are We Energies, Wisconsin
Public Service, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Michigan Gas
Utilities, and Minnesota Energy Resources. The company's other
major subsidiary, We Power, designs, builds and owns electric
generating plants.
WEC Energy Group (wecenergygroup.com), a component of the
S&P 500, has approximately $29
billion of assets, 8,500 employees and 55,000 stockholders
of record.
About Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.
Cliffs
Natural Resources Inc. is a leading mining and natural resources
company in the United States. The
Company is a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North
American steel industry from its mines and pellet plants located in
Michigan and Minnesota. Cliffs also operates an iron ore
mining complex in Western
Australia. Driven by the core values of safety, social,
environmental and capital stewardship, Cliffs' employees endeavor
to provide all stakeholders operating and financial transparency.
News releases and other information on the Company are available at
www.cliffsnaturalresources.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release
contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the federal securities laws. As a
general matter, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated
trends and expectations rather than historical matters.
Forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties and factors
relating to Cliffs' operations and business environment that are
difficult to predict and may be beyond our control. Such
uncertainties and factors may cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. These statements speak only as of the date of
this release, and we undertake no ongoing obligation, other than
that imposed by law, to update these statements.
Uncertainties and risk factors that could affect Cliffs' future
performance and cause results to differ from the forward-looking
statements in this release include, but are not limited to: trends
affecting our financial condition, results of operations or future
prospects, particularly the continued volatility of iron ore
prices; availability of capital and our ability to maintain
adequate liquidity; our level of indebtedness could limit cash flow
available to fund working capital, capital expenditures,
acquisitions and other general corporate purposes or ongoing needs
of our business, which could prevent us from fulfilling our debt
obligations; continued weaknesses in global economic conditions,
including downward pressure on prices caused by oversupply or
imported products, including the impact of any reduced barriers to
trade, recently filed and forthcoming trade cases, reduced market
demand and any change to the economic growth rate in China; our ability to reach agreement with our
iron ore customers regarding any modifications to sales contract
provisions, renewals or new arrangements; uncertainty relating to
restructurings in the steel industry and/or affecting the steel
industry; our ability to maintain appropriate relations with unions
and employees and enter into or renew collective bargaining
agreements on satisfactory terms; the impact of our customers
reducing their steel production or using other methods to produce
steel; our ability to successfully execute an exit option for
our Canadian Entities that minimizes the cash outflows and
associated liabilities of such entities, including the CCAA
process; our ability to successfully identify and consummate any
strategic investments and complete planned divestitures; our
ability to successfully diversify our product mix and add new
customers beyond our traditional blast furnace clientele; the
outcome of any contractual disputes with our customers, joint
venture partners or significant energy, material or service
providers or any other litigation or arbitration; the ability of
our customers and joint venture partners to meet their obligations
to us on a timely basis or at all; the impact of price-adjustment
factors on our sales contracts; changes in sales volume or mix; our
actual levels of capital spending; our actual economic iron ore
reserves or reductions in current mineral estimates, including
whether any mineralized material qualifies as a reserve; events or
circumstances that could impair or adversely impact the viability
of a mine and the carrying value of associated assets, as well as
any resulting impairment charges; the results of prefeasibility and
feasibility studies in relation to projects; impacts of existing
and increasing governmental regulation and related costs and
liabilities, including failure to receive or maintain required
operating and environmental permits, approvals, modifications or
other authorization of, or from, any governmental or regulatory
entity and costs related to implementing improvements to ensure
compliance with regulatory changes; our ability to cost-effectively
achieve planned production rates or levels; uncertainties
associated with natural disasters, weather conditions,
unanticipated geological conditions, supply or price of energy,
equipment failures and other unexpected events; adverse changes in
currency values, currency exchange rates, interest rates and tax
laws; risks related to international operations; availability of
capital equipment and component parts; the potential existence of
significant deficiencies or material weakness in our internal
control over financial reporting; and problems or uncertainties
with productivity, tons mined, transportation, mine-closure
obligations, environmental liabilities, employee-benefit costs and
other risks of the mining industry. For additional factors
affecting the business of Cliffs, refer to Part I – Item 1A.
Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2015. You are urged to
carefully consider these risk factors.
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SOURCE Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.