But in a Wednesday filing, Goldblatt denied Cliffs’ motion for summary judgment, saying there are enough factual disputes to merit a trial in federal district court.
“A (reasonable) jury could find that Mesabi suffered the type of injury that antirust law is intended to prevent,” he wrote.
From 2015 to 2019, Cleveland-Cliffs was by far the largest independent iron ore merchant for the Great Lakes steel business with 73% to 78% of the “non-captive” market for taconite pellets, Mesabi claims. The term “captive” refers to iron mines owned directly by steel companies. In 2020, Cliffs bought two major U.S. steelmakers and now primarily produces iron ore for its own “captive” steel mills.
The Nashwauk plant would have competed with Cliffs in the non-captive market. Essar Minnesota made a critical deal in 2014 to supply taconite pellets to ArcelorMittal’s U.S. subsidiary, then one of the nation’s two largest steelmakers. But ArcelorMittal terminated the contract in 2016 since Essar Minnesota had yet to finish its Nashwauk plant.
Cliffs then signed a 10-year agreement with ArcelorMittal. Mesabi Metallics claims Cliffs structured the contract to give Cliffs exclusive access to Arcelor and shut Mesabi out of the market.
Mesabi Metallics also claims Cliffs’ anticompetitive conduct included blackballing construction contractors who worked on Mesabi’s project. The Jamar Co. and Barr Engineering, two Minnesota prominent contractors, had worked for both Mesabi and Cliffs. Cliffs refused to let Jamar continue to work on ongoing projects – or bid on new ones, Goldblatt’s ruling said. Once Jamar stopped supporting Mesabi, it got its Cliffs business back. A similar tale unfolded with Barr.
