10:40 AM EDT, 10/20/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Cleveland-Cliffs' ( CLF ) third-quarter revenue rose year-over-year amid signs of demand recovery, while the steel producer said that it would explore producing rare earth minerals amid an ongoing dispute with China over these metals.

Revenue rose to $4.73 billion from $4.57 billion, but missed the view on FactSet for nearly $4.9 billion. The company posted an adjusted loss of $0.45 a share for the September quarter, meeting the consensus estimate, compared with a loss of $0.34 the year before.

"Our third-quarter results marked a clear sign of demand recovery for automotive-grade steel made in the USA, and that is a direct consequence of the new trade environment implemented and enforced by the Trump Administration," CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in a statement.

In June, President Donald Trump increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50% from 25%, as part of efforts to end what the White House called "unfair trade practices and the global dumping" of the two materials.

The US-China relation recently soured after Beijing moved to restrict exports of rare earths minerals, a move that led Trump to announce additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, effective Nov. 1.

Goncalves see the situation as a potential opportunity for the company to push into domestic rare-earth elements.

"Beyond steelmaking, the renewed importance of rare earths has driven us to re-focus on this potential opportunity at our upstream mining assets," he said. "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."

Those two sites show "key indicators of rare-earth mineralization," Goncalves said.

"If successful, it would align Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) with the broader national strategy for critical material independence, similar to what we achieved in steel," he said. "American manufacturing shouldn't rely on China or any foreign nation for essential minerals, and Cliffs intends to be part of the solution."

The stock climbed 16% in Monday trade, pushing it 65% higher so far this year.

Steel product sales volume increased to 4.03 million net tons in the third quarter from 3.84 million net tons a year ago. Steelmaking revenue advanced to $4.56 billion from $4.42 billion.

"Our (third-quarter) results show a richer sales mix and improved pricing, further bolstered by our continued execution on costs," according to Goncalves. "With the end of the slab supply contract to ArcelorMittal (MT) in early December, we expect this trend to accelerate into 2026."

Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) entered into a memorandum of understanding with a "major global steel producer" in the previous quarter, Goncalves said. The CEO expects the deal to be "highly accretive" to its shareholders.

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