Jim Trippon CPA

Materials and mining stocks are not for the faint of heart and making a long-term investment in one of these names all the more difficult is the fact that these sectors usually aren't home to good dividends or strong yields.

Stocks like Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF), a maker of iron ore pellets used by steelmakers, are momentum stocks and when the momentum is bad these stocks can really take it on the chin.

Between China's efforts to cool economic growth, Australia's proposed 40% tax hike on mining firms doing business there and the European sovereign debt crisis, high-beta materials names have been throttled in the past month.

Cliffs is no exception as the shares have plunged almost 25%, or about $20 in dollar terms, compared to a 4% for the S&P 500.

Minnesota-based Cliffs finally delivered some good news for beleaguered shareholders on Tuesday when it announced a 60% increase to its quarterly dividend. That takes the dividend to 14 cents a share from 8.75 cents.

The new dividend is payable on June 1st to shareholders of record on May 14th. Even with that substantial increase, Cliffs shares would still yield less than 1% and that's hardly anything to get excited about.

This is the second consecutive year that Cliffs has raised its dividend and it should be noted the company has more than tripled its payout in only a year.