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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

Current Report

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): July 30, 2020

MESABI TRUST

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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(904) 271-2520

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

N/A

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

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

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company ◻

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻

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Item 7.01Regulation FD.

Quarterly Royalty Report and Royalty Payment

On July 30, 2020, the Trustees of Mesabi Trust received the quarterly royalty report of iron ore shipments out of Silver Bay, Minnesota during the quarter ended June 30, 2020 (“Royalty Report”) from Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (“Cliffs”), the parent company of Northshore Mining Company (“Northshore”), as well as the royalty payment from Cliffs, as summarized below.

As reported to Mesabi Trust by Cliffs in the Royalty Report, based on shipments of iron ore products by Northshore during the three months ended June 30, 2020, Mesabi Trust was credited with a base royalty of $2,792,731. Also for the three months ended June 30, 2020, Mesabi Trust was credited with a bonus royalty in the amount of $2,932,348. After applying a reduction of $1,477,192 resulting from negative pricing adjustments carried over from the first quarter 2020 and netted against positive pricing adjustments of $71,957 to base and bonus royalty calculations related to changes in price estimates made in prior quarters, Cliffs paid Mesabi Trust a royalty of $4,319,844 for shipments during the quarter ended June 30, 2020. In addition, a royalty payment of $29,986 was paid to the Mesabi Land Trust. Accordingly, the total royalty payments received by Mesabi Trust on July 30, 2020 from Cliffs were $4,349,830.

The royalties paid to Mesabi Trust are based on the volume of shipments of iron ore pellets for the quarter and the year to date, the pricing of iron ore product sales, and the percentage of iron ore pellet shipments from Mesabi Trust lands rather than from non-Mesabi Trust lands. In the second calendar quarter of 2020, Cliffs credited Mesabi Trust with 1,073,446 tons of iron ore shipped, as compared to 1,545,242 tons shipped during the second calendar quarter of 2019.

The volume of shipments of iron ore pellets (and other iron ore products) by Northshore varies from quarter to quarter and year to year based on a number of factors, including the requested delivery schedules of customers, general economic conditions in the iron ore industry, and weather conditions on the Great Lakes. Further, the prices under the term contracts among Northshore, Cliffs, and certain of their customers (the “Cliffs Pellet Agreements”), to which Mesabi Trust is not a party, are subject to interim and final pricing adjustments, dependent in part on multiple price and inflation index factors, some of which are not known until after the end of a contract year. The factors that could result in price adjustments under Cliffs’ customer contracts include changes in the Platts 62% Price, hot-rolled coil steel price, the Atlantic Basin pellet premium, published Platts international indexed freight rates and changes in specified producer price indices, including those for industrial commodities, fuel and steel. These multiple factors can result in significant variations in royalties received by Mesabi Trust (and in turn, the resulting funds available for distribution to Unitholders by Mesabi Trust) from quarter to quarter and from year to year. These variations, which can be positive or negative, cannot be predicted by the Trustees of Mesabi Trust. Royalty payments anticipated to be received during fiscal 2021 will continue to reflect pricing estimates for shipments of iron ore products that will be subject to positive or negative pricing adjustments pursuant to the Cliffs Pellet Agreements. Based on the above factors, and as indicated by Mesabi Trust’s historical distribution payments, the royalties received by Mesabi Trust, and the distributions paid to Unitholders, if any, in any particular quarter are not necessarily indicative of royalties that will be received, or distributions that will be paid, if any, in any subsequent quarter or full year.

With respect to calendar year 2020, Northshore has not advised Mesabi Trust of its expected shipments of iron ore products or what percentage of 2020 shipments will be from Mesabi Trust iron ore. In the Cliffs’ Royalty Report, Cliffs stated that the royalty payments being reported were based on estimated iron ore pellet prices under the Cliffs Pellet Agreements, which are subject to change. It is possible that future negative price adjustments could offset, or even eliminate, royalties or royalty income that would otherwise be payable to Mesabi Trust in any particular quarter, or at year end, thereby potentially reducing cash available for distribution to Mesabi Trust’s Unitholders in future quarters.

Other Recent Developments

In its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 (filed July 30, 2020), Cliffs disclosed that it plans to restart the previously idled Northshore mine in early August 2020.

In the same quarterly report, Cliffs also disclosed that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it made various operational changes to adjust to the demand for its products. Although steel and iron ore production have been considered “essential” by the states in which Cliffs operates, certain of its facilities and construction activities were temporarily idled during the second quarter of 2020. Nearly all of these temporarily idled facilities were restarted as of June 30, 2020, with the

exception of the Dearborn hot-end operations and Mansfield operations, which were restarted in July 2020, and the Northshore mine, which Cliffs reported that it plans to restart in early August 2020.

Forward-looking Statements

This report contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to iron ore pellet production, iron ore pricing and adjustments to pricing, shipments by Northshore in 2019 and 2020, royalty (including bonus royalty) amounts, and other matters, which statements are intended to be made under the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Actual production, prices, price adjustments, and shipments of iron ore pellets, as well as actual royalty payments (including bonus royalties) could differ materially from current expectations due to inherent risks and uncertainties such as general adverse business and industry economic trends, uncertainties arising from war, terrorist events, the impact of the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other global events, higher or lower customer demand for steel and iron ore, decisions by mine operators regarding curtailments or idling production lines or entire plants, environmental compliance uncertainties, difficulties in obtaining and renewing necessary operating permits, higher imports of steel and iron ore substitutes, processing difficulties, consolidation and restructuring in the domestic steel market, market inputs tied to indexed price adjustment factors found in Cliffs Pellet Agreements resulting in future adjustments to royalties payable to Mesabi Trust and other factors. Further, substantial portions of royalties earned by Mesabi Trust are based on estimated prices that are subject to interim and final adjustments, which can be positive or negative, and are dependent in part on multiple price and inflation index factors under agreements to which Mesabi Trust is not a party and that are not known until after the end of a contract year. Although the Mesabi Trustees believe that any such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially. Additional information concerning these and other risks and uncertainties is contained in Mesabi Trust’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2020. Mesabi Trust undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

In accordance with general instruction B.2 to Form 8-K, the information in this Form 8-K shall not be deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section.

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SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

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Dated: August 3, 2020