Speaking during Cleveland-Cliffs’ third-quarter earnings call, chairman and chief executive officer Lourenco Goncalves said the renewed importance of rare earths is prompting the company to look at whether it is already sitting on reserves of those minerals.

“We have looked at all of our ore bodies and tailings basins, and two sites in particular, one in Michigan and one in Minnesota, show the most potential. At these two sites, geological surveys show key indicators of rare earth mineralization,” Goncalves said.

“We view this effort as both an opportunity and as our responsibility,” he added. “Advancing this initiative … is squarely within the nation's pursuit of critical material self-sufficiency. Cleveland-Cliffs is committed to contributing to our independence from foreign powers on critical materials.”

Cleveland-Cliffs’ announcement on Monday coincided with the signing of an agreement between the U.S. and Australia to develop rare earths projects. According to the Trump administration, the countries will invest more than US$3 billion in critical mineral projects over the next six months.