Mesabi Trust Press Release.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2003

The Trustees of Mesabi Trust (NYSE: MSB) declared a distribution of $0.19 per Unit of Beneficial Interest payable on February 20, 2003 to Mesabi Trust unitholders of record at the close of business on January 30, 2003.

The volume of shipments by Northshore varies from quarter to quarter and year to year based on a number of factors including weather conditions on the Great Lakes, the requested delivery schedules of customers and general economic conditions in the iron ore industry. The resulting royalties to the Trust are dependent on the volume of shipments for the quarter and the year to date, the pricing of the iron ore product sales, and the percentage of iron ore shipments which is from Mesabi Trust lands rather than other lands.

In 2002, actual production of iron ore pellets by Northshore Mining Company, the lessee/operator, approximated 3.99 million tons and actual shipments approximated 3.79 million tons. By comparison, actual pellet production for 2001 approximated 2.77 million tons and actual shipments approximated 3.17 million tons. The increases from 2001 to 2002 are attributable to increases in sales volume of Northshore's iron ore pellets during 2002 which resulted from Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.'s ("CCI") capturing additional customer contracts and somewhat higher demand from customers.

CCI, the corporate parent of Northshore Mining Company, is projecting that Northshore will produce approximately 4.5 million tons of iron ore pellets from Mesabi Trust lands for 2003. CCI provided no forecast of the volume of shipments of iron ore pellets for the coming year.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to iron ore production at Northshore in 2003, which statements are intended to be made under the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual production and shipments of iron ore pellets could differ materially from current expectations due to inherent risks such as lower demand for steel, iron ore, higher steel imports, increases or decreases in the number of customer contracts, processing difficulties or other factors. Although the Mesabi Trustees believe that its forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially.