Item 7.01Regulation FD.
Quarterly Royalty Report
On January 28, 2022, the Trustees of Mesabi Trust received the Royalty Report from Cliffs, the parent company of Northshore.
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 December 31, 2021, Mesabi Trust was credited with a base royalty of $13,744,881. For the three months ended December 31, 2021, Mesabi Trust was also credited with a bonus royalty in the amount of $7,106,888. The royalty also included a reduction of $151,274 as a result of negative pricing adjustments to base and bonus royalty calculations related to changes in price estimates made in prior quarters. In addition, a royalty payment of $232,820 was paid to the Mesabi Land Trust. Accordingly, the total fourth quarter 2021 royalty payments received by Mesabi Trust on January 28, 2022 from Cliffs were $20,933,315.
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 fourth calendar quarter of 2021, Cliffs credited Mesabi Trust with 1,085,427 tons of iron ore shipped, as compared to 1,111,387 tons shipped during the fourth calendar quarter of 2020.
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. In addition, Cliffs’ recently announced plans to shift production of DR grade pellets away from Northshore to Minorca, to no longer sell pellets to third parties in the coming years and to keep idle the Northshore plant from time to time, when and if implemented, would likely negatively impact the volume of shipments of iron ore products from Silver Bay, Minnesota. Further, the prices under some 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 Prices, 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 the current year 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 2022, Northshore has not advised Mesabi Trust of its expected shipments of iron ore products, or what percentage of 2022 shipments will be from Mesabi Trust iron ore. Further, Cliffs has not advised the Trust of any implementation of, or changes to, its publicly announced plans for Northshore. In the Cliffs’ Royalty Report,
