TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US iron-ore miner Cliffs Natural Resources on Friday announced that it would hold its annual shareholders meeting on July 29.

Shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 2, would be entitled to vote at the annual meeting.

The company is being targeted by hedge fund Casablanca Capital, following several quarters of weak earnings and share performance.

Casablanca argued that Cliffs' international assets were weighing on its cash-generating US business and should be spun off. The New York-based fund wants to install a new CE at Cliffs, as well as a majority of new directors.

Casablanca, which owns 5.2% of Cliffs, commented that while it was pleased that Cliffs had announced the date on which the shareholder meeting would be held, after Casablanca had requested such a meeting in December, it remained “deeply concerned by the severe value destruction suffered by shareholders under the incumbent board", Casablanca chairperson Donald Drapkin said.

“The fact that Cliffs scheduled the meeting only after Casablanca had threatened a consent solicitation to force the board to face its annual election – and the fact that the meeting won’t be held until the end of July even though every year previously since 2008 the meeting has been held in early May – further underscores this board’s appalling lack of urgency and what we view as its attempt to avoid the judgment of the shareholders.

“We look forward to giving shareholders a strong voice in restoring value at Cliffs by electing our slate of highly qualified director candidates,” Drapkin said.

Weakness the steel market has hit relatively high-cost iron-ore suppliers such as Cliffs hard. In recent quarters, higher-than-expected costs at its Bloom Lake mine, in Canada, also weighed down its earnings. After months of uncertainty, Cliffs earlier this year said it had decided to indefinitely suspend a planned expansion at Bloom Lake, and idle Wabush, another Canadian mine, slashing capital spending and cutting some 500 jobs.