<b>By KEVIN WALKER<br>
Michigan Correspondent</b> </p><p>

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Cleveland-Cliffs, a major iron ore mining and processing company, has made a 70 percent investment in Renewafuel, a green energy company with a facility in Battle Creek.</p><p>
“This acquisition will help make Michigan the center of our nation’s biofuels industry,” said Gov. Jennifer Granholm in an announcement late last month. “No state in the country is better positioned to lead the alternative energy industry than Michigan.”</p><p>
Renewafuel, based in Minnesota and founded in 2005, will expand capacity at its production-scale research and development facility in Battle Creek and build additional plants in Michigan, Minnesota and other Midwestern states. The company provides both raw biofuel and a proprietary renewable product called a biofuel pellet to industrial and institutional customers.</p><p>
According to the company’s literature, the biofuel pellet is less expensive than most fossil fuels and will result in significant energy savings as well as environmental benefits. The pellet is a blend of renewable feedstock and can be sized for a particular customer’s boiler or furnace. “Densified” and custom-sized pellets allow immediate use in most systems.</p><p>
The company says from an environmental standpoint, the pellet is superior to energy derived from coal, natural gas or oil.
The investor, Cleveland-Cliffs – headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio – is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America and is a major supplier of metallurgical coal to the global steel-making industry. The company operates six iron ore mines in Michigan, Minnesota and eastern Canada and three coking coal mines in West Virginia and Alabama. The company also owns an iron ore mining company in Australia.</p><p>
“This is a strategic investment that provides an opportunity for Cliffs to utilize a green solution for further reduction of emissions, consistent with our objective to contain costs and enhance efficiencies in a socially responsible manner,” said Joseph A. Carrabba, Cleveland-Cliffs chairman, president and CEO, in a news release.</p><p>
The company plans to use Renewafuel’s pellet in its own operations to meet environmental demands. According to the company, Renewafuel’s pellet generates about the same amount of energy as coal from the western United States.</p><p>
At the same time, it emits 90 percent less sulfur dioxide, 35 percent less particulate matter and 30 percent fewer acid gases than coal. The pellet is also considered to be “carbon neutral” because it is produced from biomass.</p><p>
Cleveland-Cliffs successfully tested multiple varieties of Renewafuel’s pellet at its Empire iron ore mine outside of Marquette, Mich., including the first-ever use of corn stalks to fuel a pelletizing furnace, which uses high temperatures to harden iron ore pellets for shipment. The company hopes to begin using the fuel in its other operations, including the Tilden mine near Ishpeming, Mich., United Taconite in Eveleth, Minn. and Northshore Mining’s power plant in Silver Bay, Minn.</p><p>