Harbinger Capital Partners® Funds, the largest shareholder of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE: CLF), today issued the following statement regarding today’s special meeting of Cleveland-Cliffs shareholders:

“Based on preliminary results, it appears that Harbinger has not received the votes required to approve our acquisition of additional shares of Cleveland-Cliffs. We are obviously disappointed by this outcome. We continue to believe that the proposed acquisition would have placed Harbinger in a position to advocate the shared interests of all shareholders in maximizing the value of their investment.”

“Over the course of this process, management has staked its opposition to our proposal on the premise that the proposed share acquisition would put Harbinger in a position to control the company. As we have stated repeatedly, it was never our intention to control the company. However, it is clear that this concern resonated with shareholders and we believe that it is this concern that resulted in today’s vote.”

“In the process of soliciting proxies for today’s vote, we have found widespread agreement among the company’s shareholders that the proposed acquisition of Alpha Natural Resources represents a profound strategic mistake which places the future of the company at substantial risk. In light of this, we believe Cleveland-Cliffs should acknowledge the lack of shareholder support for the Alpha transaction and endeavor to explore all options for maximizing shareholder value.”

About Harbinger

The Harbinger Capital Partners® Funds investment team located in New York City manages in excess of $21 billion as of August 1, 2008. Our objective is to achieve superior absolute returns primarily through investments in distressed/high yield debt securities, special situation equities and private loans and notes. Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I, Ltd. focuses on event-driven situations, turnarounds and capital structure arbitrage, including both long and short positions in highly leveraged and financially distressed companies. Harbinger Capital Partners Special Situations Fund, L.P. is focused on medium to long term, control-oriented and frequently less liquid distressed investments, with flexibility to use other investment strategies and types of securities when attractive opportunities arise.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as the words “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “anticipates” and other terms with similar meaning indicating possible future events or actions or potential impact on the business or shareholders of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (the “Company”). These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.

Investors: Okapi Partners LLC
Bruce H. Goldfarb, 212-297-0722
bhgoldfarb@okapipartners.com
or
Patrick McHugh, 212-297-0721
pmchugh@okapipartners.com
or
Media: Rubenstein Associates, Inc.
Charles V. Zehren, 212-843-8590
czehren@Rubenstein.com