Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Iron ore

The rock behind steel and the largest metal-mining business by tonnage, shipped mainly from Australia and Brazil to China.

Steel & alloying · No. 12

  • Not on a critical list
  • HHI 2,007 · moderately concentrated
Steel & alloying · Foundation · Matter

In Australia's Pilbara, Rio Tinto sets off roughly one blast every 30 seconds, about a million a year.

Chart: Illustration: Iron ore

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Iron ore comes mostly from banded iron formations, ancient seabed layers rich in hematite or magnetite. Giant open pits in Australia's Pilbara and Brazil's Carajás dig it out.

Three things to know
  1. Only fossil fuels and bulk building materials are mined in greater tonnage than iron ore.
  2. In the mid-2010s just three firms, Rio Tinto, BHP and Vale, controlled 58.3% of seaborne iron ore.
  3. About 98% of US iron ore shipments feed steelmaking, so ore demand rises and falls with steel.
The journey
  1. 1 Iron formationAncient seabed rock rich in hematite
  2. 2 Open pitBlasted, crushed and screened
  3. 3 Feed formsLump, fines, sinter or pellets
  4. 4 IronmakingBlast-furnace pig iron or direct-reduced iron
  5. 5 SteelAlmost all ore ends up as steel
Covered in What makes something a commodityCommoditiesFrom ground to marketCommoditiesSupply, demand and the cost curveCommoditiesReserves, stocks and depletionCommoditiesPrices and cyclesCommoditiesHow commodities tradeCommoditiesand 8 more
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