Exhibit 31.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule
15d-
14(a) of the Exchange Act, as amended, and Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act of 2002
I, Joseph S. Micallef, certify that:
1. I have reviewed this quarterly report
on Form 10-Q of Great Northern Iron Ore Properties;
2. Based on my knowledge, this report
does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a
material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the
period covered by this report;
3. Based on my knowledge, the financial
statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly
present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations
and cash flows of the Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
report;
4. The Registrants other certifying
officers and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Registrant and have:
a) designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and
procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
information relating to the Registrant, including its consolidated
subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
during the period in which this report is being prepared;
b) designed
such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control
over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide
reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles;
c)
evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrants disclosure controls and
procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
by this report based on such evaluation; and
d)
disclosed in this report any change in the Registrants internal control over
financial reporting that occurred during the Registrants most recent fiscal
quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
affect, the Registrants internal control over financial reporting; and
5. The Registrants other certifying
officers and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal
control over financial reporting, to the Registrants auditors and the audit committee
of the Registrants board of directors [or persons performing the equivalent
functions]:
a) all
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of
internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
adversely affect the Registrants ability to record, process, summarize and
report financial information; and
b) any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who
have a significant role in the Registrants internal control over financial
reporting.
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By:
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/s/ Joseph
S. Micallef
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Date:
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April 25, 2013
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Joseph S.
Micallef
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Chief
Executive Officer, Trustee and President of the Trustees
(principal executive
officer)
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