Mesabi Trust Declares No Distribution After Zero Bonus Royalties
Royalty receipts of $1,807,779 from Cleveland-Cliffs on July 30, 2026 included no bonus payment, versus $5,300,287 a year earlier.
Mesabi Trust (MSB), a royalty trust on Northshore Mining Company’s iron ore lands, declared no distribution this quarter and said none will be paid in November 2026, versus a 34-cent-per-Unit distribution declared for the same period last year.
The turn from a paid distribution to none followed a second consecutive quarter in which Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. credited the trust with zero bonus royalties. Total royalty payments received on July 30, 2026, were $1,807,779, lower than the $5,300,287 received from Cliffs in July 2025, and included no bonus royalty.
In the prior quarter, the trustees had already cut the payout to five cents a Unit payable August 20, 2026, versus 12 cents a Unit a year earlier, after April 30, 2026, receipts of $1,625,300 that also contained no bonus royalty. The October decision therefore extended that contraction to zero rather than merely shrinking the dividend.
Cliffs’ April 30 and July 30, 2026, quarterly royalty reports said all deemed shipments out of Silver Bay for the relevant 2026 calendar quarters were priced below the 2026 adjusted bonus royalty threshold of $71.70 a ton. The trust was credited with no bonus royalties in each of those reports. For the three months ended March 31, 2026, the trust had been credited a base royalty of $1,201,501 and a $0 bonus, plus a $243,986 positive adjustment from prior quarters; a $179,813 payment went to the Mesabi Land Trust.
The zero bonus for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, was described as the first time in many years, other than the May 2022–April 2023 Northshore idling, that Cliffs’ report did not pay a bonus royalty. Prices for deemed shipments in that quarter were based on a third-party sale that occurred in September 2025, and Cliffs’ report reflected no additional third-party pellet sales since.
The trustees said the determination also took into account the desire to maintain adequate levels of the trust’s unallocated reserve to meet current expenses for ongoing matters as well as those related to its pending arbitration, and to maintain funds to address uncertainties resulting from Cliffs’ prior announcements regarding its vertical supply chain implementation. Other contributing factors included current volatility in the iron ore and steel industries, national and global economic uncertainties, potential changes in trade laws, the volume of unfairly traded imports, the imposition or termination of international duties or tariffs, and ongoing disturbances from global unrest.
The trustees said they have received no specific updates on Cliffs’ plans for the current year concerning Northshore iron ore operations or Northshore’s production, sale, or shipments of iron ore products.
Quarterly royalty payments from Cliffs and Northshore for iron ore production and shipments during the third calendar quarter are due October 30, 2026, together with the quarterly royalty report. After receiving that report and payment, Mesabi Trust plans to file a summary of the quarterly royalty report with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Historically, some royalties earned by the trust have been based on estimated prices subject to interim and final adjustments that can be positive or negative. Royalties received, and distributions paid, if any, in any particular quarter are not necessarily indicative of royalties that will be received, or distributions that will be paid, in any subsequent quarter or full year.