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BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2014
Estimated Useful Lives Of Intangible Assets Subject To Periodic Amortization On Straight Line Basis Table [Text Block] | Other intangible assets are subject to periodic amortization on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives as follows:
Intangible Assets |  | Basis |  | Useful Life (years)
Permits - Asia Pacific Iron Ore |  | Units of production |  | Life of mine
Permits - All Other |  | Straight line |  | 15 - 40
Utility Contracts |  | Straight line |  | 5
Leases - North American Coal |  | Units of production |  | Life of mine
Leases - All Other |  | Straight line |  | 4.5 - 17.5
Schedule Of Subsidiaries | The consolidated financial statements include our accounts and the accounts of our wholly owned and majority-owned subsidiaries, including the following operations at December 31, 2014:
Name |  | Location |  | Ownership Interest |  | Operation |  | Status of Operations
Northshore |  | Minnesota |  | 100.0% |  | Iron Ore |  | Active
United Taconite |  | Minnesota |  | 100.0% |  | Iron Ore |  | Active
Tilden |  | Michigan |  | 85.0% |  | Iron Ore |  | Active
Empire |  | Michigan |  | 79.0% |  | Iron Ore |  | Active
Koolyanobbing |  | Western Australia |  | 100.0% |  | Iron Ore |  | Active
Pinnacle |  | West Virginia |  | 100.0% |  | Coal |  | Active
Oak Grove |  | Alabama |  | 100.0% |  | Coal |  | Active
CLCC |  | West Virginia |  | 100.0% |  | Coal |  | Assets sold as of December 31, 2014
Wabush |  | Newfoundland and Labrador/ Québec, Canada |  | 100.0% |  | Iron Ore |  | Permanent closure
Bloom Lake |  | Québec, Canada |  | 82.8% |  | Iron Ore |  | Care-and-maintenance
Cliffs Chromite Ontario - Black Label Deposit |  | Ontario, Canada |  | 100.0% |  | Chromite |  | Suspended
Cliffs Chromite Ontario - Black Thor Deposit |  | Ontario, Canada |  | 100.0% |  | Chromite |  | Suspended
Cliffs Chromite Ontario & Cliffs Chromite Far North - Big Daddy Deposit |  | Ontario, Canada |  | 70.0% |  | Chromite |  | Suspended
Depreciation Disclosure [Table Text Block] | Depreciation is provided over the following estimated useful lives:
Asset Class |  | Basis |  | Life
Buildings |  | Straight line |  | 45 Years
Mining equipment |  | Straight line/Double declining balance |  | 3 to 20 Years
Processing equipment |  | Straight line |  | 10 to 45 Years
Electric power facilities |  | Straight line |  | 10 to 45 years
Land improvements |  | Straight line |  | 20 to 45 years
Office and information technology |  | Straight line |  | 3 to 15 Years
Schedule of Equity Method Investments | The following table presents the detail of our investments in unconsolidated ventures and where those investments are classified in the Statements of Consolidated Financial Position as of December 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013. Parentheses indicate a net liability.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | (In Millions)
Investment |  | Classification |  | Accounting Method |  | Ownership Interest |  | December 31, 2014 |  | December 31, 2013
Hibbing |  | Other non-current assets 1 |  | Equity Method |  | 23% |  | $ | 3.1 |  |  | (3.9 | )
Other |  | Other non-current assets |  | Equity Method |  | Various |  | 3.9 |  |  | 34.7 |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | $ | 7.0 |  |  | $ | 30.8 |
1 At December 31, 2013, the classification for Hibbing was Other liabilities.
Reimbursements Revenue Disclosure [Table Text Block] | The following table is a summary of reimbursements in our U.S. Iron Ore operations for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012:
|  | (In Millions)
|  | Year Ended December 31,
|  | 2014 |  | 2013 |  | 2012
Reimbursements for: |  |  |  |  |  |
Freight |  | $ | 163.0 |  |  | $ | 177.3 |  |  | $ | 142.0 |
Venture partners’ cost |  | 108.0 |  |  | 82.2 |  |  | 108.8 |
Total reimbursements |  | $ | 271.0 |  |  | $ | 259.5 |  |  | $ | 250.8 |

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- Definition Describes the methodology and periods of time over which an entity anticipates to receive utility from its property, plant and equipment (that is, the periods of time over which an entity allocates the initial cost of its property, plant and equipment and the estimated useful life of the asset in a systematic and rational manner.) + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Tabular disclosure of equity method investments including, but not limited to, name of each investee or group of investments, percentage ownership, difference between recorded amount of an investment and the value of the underlying equity in the net assets, and summarized financial information. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 323 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6382943&loc=d3e33918-111571 + Details
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