MESABI TRUST TRUSTEES' DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS. (form 10-K)

Mesabi Trust is a royalty trust that operates in the iron ore mining segment. The Trust derives income from an iron mine (Peter Mitchell Mine) located near Babbitt, Minnesota, at the eastern end of the Mesabi Iron Range. The lessee and operator of Mesabi Trust's mineral interests is Northshore Mining Corporation (NMC), a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (Cliffs). The principal assets of the Company consist of two different interests in certain properties in the Mesabi Iron Range: Mesabi Trust’s interest as assignor in the Amended Assignment of Peters Lease and the Amended Assignment of Cloquet Lease, which together cover properties aggregating over 9,750 largely contiguous acres in St. Louis County, Minnesota, and Mesabi Trust’s ownership of the entire beneficial interest in the Mesabi Land Trust, which has an over 20% interest as fee owner in the Peters Lease Lands and a 100% fee ownership in certain non-mineral-bearing lands adjacent to the Peters and Cloquet Lease Lands.