Company spokesperson James Kosowski told ILN the callback was immediate, but it would be a week or two before all pre-employment protocols could be completed and the workers were underground again.
“[The decision] was prompted by a modest improvement in current orders and in the market expectations going forward,” he said, noting that only Cliffs employees were included in the rehiring.
Green Ridge was idled in April, with Pinnacle idled shortly after. A skeleton crew has since been on hand at both mines despite the production stoppage, Cliffs said.
Last month, Cliffs revised sales volume expectations to about 1.5 million tons for its North American coal business at an average price of $US100 per ton, but did not provide a timeframe for those figures.
"While we have begun to see preliminary signs of stabilisation in the North American steelmaking industry, we will continue to ensure our production and inventory are balanced with customer demand," Cliffs North American business unit president Don Gallagher said in early July.
On the basis of amendments to customer supply agreements, the company expected to defer 1Mt of purchase obligations for iron pellets from its customers to the first three months of 2010.
Cliffs has a 45% stake of the Sonoma project in Queensland, which is anticipated to produce 3.1Mt this year at a 60:40 mix of thermal and metallurgical coal. Cliffs’ portfolio of mines in North America consists of six iron ore operations and two coking coal mines.
