CLEVELAND-CLIFFS INC

In addition to the strategic initiatives outlined in compensation program, the management team had the following strategic accomplishments that were identified for recognition by the Compensation Committee:

•Returned value to shareholders by repurchasing over 10 million of our outstanding common shares in the open market at a significant discount to the share price as of December 31, 2023;

•Achieved stated target of net debt below $3 billion before December 31, 2023;

•Significantly reduced operational unit costs by $80 per ton from 2022 to 2023;

•Reached record liquidity of $4.5 billion with zero balance on our asset-based lending facility as of December 31, 2023;

•Pursued government grants for multiple decarbonization projects; and

•Secured award of Nashwauk state mineral leases, which is expected to provide additional long-term iron ore reserves to our Hibbing Taconite mine.

Based on the outstanding execution of and progress toward the ongoing strategic initiatives described above, following due deliberation, the Compensation Committee determined that the Company far exceeded expectations during 2023 and approved a maximum 200% payout of target for this metric.

The Compensation Committee established these specific goals for 2023 covering financial, safety and strategic performance metrics. Each quarter, the Compensation Committee reviewed the interim status of our performance against the metrics. The 2023 EMPI payouts were weighted as originally established.

In summary, the respective weightings and funding results for Adjusted EBITDA, Safety Scorecard and Strategic Initiatives were as follows: