Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Ranks in Top 100 Companies for Global 1000 Sustainable Performance Leaders

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) announced today it was named to the Global 1000 Sustainable Performance Leaders, achieving an overall ranking of 97 among other publicly traded global companies. In addition, it ranked fourth among the 64 companies recognized in the Metals and Mining category.

The Global 1000 Sustainable Performance Leaders Ranking was released for the first time in September of 2010 by CRD Analytics, a leading provider of independent sustainability investment analytics. The Global 1000 Sustainable Performance Leaders reviewed more than 5,000 Companies that are publicly traded on a major global exchange; have a minimum market capitalization of $1 billion USD; and have published a sustainability report with full-year environmental, social, governance (ESG) data for the 2008 calendar year before Oct. 31, 2009.

"Ranking in the top tier of the overall index and within the Metals and Mining sector is an immense honor for Cliffs Natural Resources, as well as an excellent benchmark for the Company to determine its performance as a sustainable enterprise on a global scale," said Kelly Tompkins, executive vice president, legal, government affairs and sustainability, of Cliffs. "We receive this recognition ever mindful of the Company's longstanding commitment to the principles of sustainability, which have served us well for more than 163 years. As Cliffs continues its growth in the international mining and natural resources industry, the commitment to environmental excellence and social responsibility is unwavering."

Companies meeting the criteria are force-ranked by total Sustainable Performance Value (SPV), calculated as the average of four performance dimensions: financial, environmental, social and governance.

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About Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is an international mining and natural resources company. A member of the S&P 500 Index, we are the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia and a significant producer of high and low volatile metallurgical coal. With core values of environmental and capital stewardship, our colleagues across the globe endeavor to provide all stakeholders operating and financial transparency as embodied in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Our Company is organized through three geographic business units:

The North American business unit is comprised of six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Canada and six coal mines located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit is comprised of two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The Latin American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapa Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapa in Brazil.

Other projects under development include a biomass production plant in Michigan and Ring of Fire chromite properties in Ontario, Canada. Over recent years, Cliffs has been executing a strategy designed to achieve scale in the mining industry and focused on serving the world's largest and fastest growing steel markets.

News releases and other information on the Company are available on the Internet at:
http://www.cliffsnaturalresources.com or www.cliffsnaturalresources.com/Investors/Pages/default.aspx?b=1041&1=1

    Source: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

Released November 1, 2010