Cleveland Cliffs saw Ubers grift to “AI” and said “Hold my beer”...

Cleveland-Cliffs just pulled the newest trick in the commodities playbook: whisper “rare earths” into a market full of resource nationalists, and watch your market cap put on a melt-up clinic. 

(Source: Imgflip) 

In short, the Ohio-based steelmaker… a.k.a. The same one whose biggest innovation until now was not going bankrupt during 2008… said it’s “evaluating” two sites in Michigan and Minnesota for rare earth deposits. That word alone, evaluating, was apparently enough to make the stock moon +20%. For instance, CEO Lourenco Goncalves, told investors the company’s “working with geologists to assess whether these deposits could become commercially viable.” Translation: we don’t know if there’s anything down there, but we know what that word does to traders.

(Source: CNBC) 

Now obviously, this is understandable from Clevands POV. Rare earths are the magic dust of modern manufacturing… essential for EVs, missile guidance, semiconductors, and every other thing politicians think wins cold wars. China controls nearly the entire global supply chain, and when Beijing announced stricter export controls this month, Trump threw down the tariff hammer. Now, U.S. corporations are tripping over themselves to LARP as critical-mineral patriots. And Cliffs is playing its part beautifully. Two old iron mines, a couple geologists with clipboards, and suddenly you’re the front line in America’s fight for resource independence. To be fair, this is a company that already digs rocks and turns them into other rocks. Getting into rare earths is at least in the same geological neighborhood. They’ve got the shovels, the unions, and the rust-belt grit. What they don’t have is the processing tech or the supply chain… both of which China owns, operates, and guards. 

However, logistics don’t mean a flying f*k when it comes to hype. Especially considering “rare earths” in 2025 is basically “blockchain integration” from years past. Add in the fact that the Biden-era subsidies are gone and Trump’s team is throwing government money at anything that smells like “Made in America.” MP Materials already got an equity deal with the Pentagon that guaranteed them price floors and offtake contracts. Goncalves saw that and said, “Yeah, I’ll take what he’s having”. 

(Source: Giphy) 

So he’s pitching Cliffs as part of the new “national strategy for critical mineral independence.” Never mind that their Q3 earnings were down…$4.7 billion in revenue on 4 million tons of steel shipments, with a $0.45 adjusted net loss. The narrative is worth more than the margin. Because if you can’t outproduce China, you out-narrative them. Meaning, this is the new era of American industry: announce first, excavate later. And it’s working. Investors are practically salivating over the idea of a Cleveland-based miner taking on Beijing, like watching Rocky fight the entire CCP with a shovel and a government grant.

So yeah… Cleveland-Cliffs might not have found the next Saudi Arabia of rare earths. But for now? It found the next great American story… one good enough to pump the stock 20% in a single trading day. Meaning, keep your eyes on this story and place your bets accordingly, friends. Until next time… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Cleveland-Cliffs as mentioned in the article.