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                                                                  Exhibit 10(j)

                      NONQUALIFIED STOCK OPTION AGREEMENT

                                      FOR

                              NONEMPLOYEE DIRECTORS

            , Optionee

    Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (the "Company") pursuant to its 1992 Incentive Equity
Plan (the "Plan") has this day granted to you, the above-mentioned optionee, a
nonqualified option to purchase 500 shares of the Company's common stock, par
value $1 per share ("Common Shares") at the price of $       per share, and
agrees to cause certificates for any shares purchased hereunder to be delivered
to the Optionee upon payment of the purchase price in full, all subject,
however, to the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth.

    1.  (A) This option (until terminated as hereafter provided) shall become
    exercisable upon the expiration of a period of 6 months from the date of
    this Agreement during which the Optionee shall have continuously served as
    a Director of the Company. To the extent exercisable, this option shall be
    exercisable in whole at any time or in part from time to time.

        (B) If the Optionee should die or become permanently and totally
    disabled while a Director of the Company, the option covered by this
    Agreement shall become immediately exercisable in full.

    2.  The option price shall be payable (a) in cash or by check
acceptable to the Company, (b) by actual or constructive transfer to the
Company of nonforfeitable, unrestricted Common Shares already owned by the
Optionee for more than six (6) months prior to the date of exercise and having
a value at the time of exercise equal to the option price, or (c) by
combination of such methods of payment.

    3.  This option shall terminate on the earliest of the following dates:

        (A) Three months after the date on which the Optionee ceases to be a
    Director of the Company (during which period the option shall be exercisable
    only to the extent exercisable on the date of termination in accordance with
    the provisions of paragraph 1(A) hereof), unless he or she ceases to be a
    Director of the Company by reason of death or permanent disability (in which
    case this option shall be immediately exercisable in full pursuant to
    paragraph 1(B));

        (B) One year after the death of permanent disability of the Optionee if
    the Optionee dies or becomes permanently disabled while a Director of the
    Company (in which case this option shall be immediately exercisable in full
    pursuant to paragraph 1(B)); and

        (C) Ten years from the date on which this option was granted.

    4.  This option is not transferable by the Optionee otherwise than by
will or the laws of descent and distribution, and is exercisable, during the
lifetime of the Optionee, only by him or her or by his or her guardian or legal
representative.

    5.  This option shall not be exercisable if such exercise would involve a
violation of any applicable Federal or state securities law, and the Company
hereby agrees to make reasonable efforts to comply with such securities laws.
If the Ohio Securities Act shall be applicable to this option, it shall not be
exercisable unless under said Act at the time of exercise the Common Shares or
other securities purchasable hereunder are exempt, are the subject matter of an
exempt transaction, are registered by description or by qualification, or at
such time are the subject matter of a transaction which has been registered by
description.

    6.  The Committee of the Board described in Section 16(a) of the Plan (the
"Committee") shall make such adjustments in the number or kind of Common Shares
or other securities covered by this option as the Committee in its sole
discretion, exercised in good faith, may determine is equitably required to
prevent dilution or enlargement of the rights of the Optionee that otherwise
would result from (i) any stock dividend, stock split, combination of shares,
recapitalization or other change in the capital structure of the Company or
(ii) any merger, consolidation, spin-off, spin-out, split-off, split-up,
reorganization, partial or complete

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liquidation of the Company or other distribution of assets, issuance of rights
or warrants to purchase securities of the Company, or (iii) any other corporate
transaction or event having an effect similar to any of the foregoing.

        7.  Upon any change in control of the Company, the option granted to
the Optionee in this agreement shall become immediately exercisable in full.
For purposes of this grant, the term "change in control" shall mean the
occurrence of any in the following events:

                (A) The Company shall merge into itself, or be merged or
        consolidated with, another corporation and as a result of such merger
        or consolidation less than 70% of the outstanding voting securities of
        the surviving or resulting corporation shall be owned in the aggregate
        by the former shareholders of the Company as the same shall have
        existed immediately prior to such merger or consolidation;

                (B) The Company shall sell or transfer to one or more persons,
        corporations or entities, in a single transaction or a series of
        related transactions, more than one-half of the assets accounted for
        on the Statement of Consolidated Financial Position of the Company as
        "properties" or "investments in associated companies" (or such
        replacements for these accounts as may be adopted from time to time)
        unless by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the Board
        of Directors of the Company, the transaction or transactions are
        exempted from the operation of this provision based on a good faith
        finding that the transaction or transactions are not within the
        intended scope of this definition for purposes of this instrument;

                (C) A person, within the meaning of Section 3(a)(9) or of
        Section 13(d)(3) (as in effect on the date hereof) of the Securities
        Exchange Act of 1934, shall become the beneficial owner (as defined in
        Rule 13d-3 of the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the
        Securities and  Exchange Act of 1934) of 30% or more of the outstanding
        voting securities of the Company (whether directly or indirectly); or

                (D) During any period of three consecutive years, including,
        without limitation, the year 1991, individuals who at the beginning of
        any such period constitute the Board of Directors of the Company cease,
        for any reason, to constitute at least a majority thereof, unless the
        election, or the nomination for election by the shareholders of the
        Company, of each Director first elected during any such period was
        approved by a vote of at least one-third of the Directors of the
        Company who are Directors of the Company on the date of the beginning
        of any such period.

        8. This grant of an option to purchase Common Shares is made pursuant
to the Plan, a copy of which is attached hereto. This award is subject to all
of the terms and provisions of the Plan, which are incorporated herein by
reference.


        Dated this        day of        199 .


                                                CLEVELAND-CLIFFS INC


                                                By:
                                                   --------------------------
                                                   Name:
                                                   Title:


Accepted and agreed to:

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Date:
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