The richest and largest iron ore deposits are found in the Hamersley Basin of Western Australia, home to massive, high-grade reserves (over 60% iron), with significant individual mines like Mt Whaleback being among the world's richest sources, alongside major operations in Brazil (Carajás) and other significant global reserves in countries like China, India, and Russia.
Iron ore is loaded on a ship in Western Australia. Australia is the world's largest iron ore producer with output reaching 944.1Mt in 2022.
The Serra Norte Mining Complex in Para, Brazil, operated by Vale, stands as the world's largest iron ore producer with output of 102.8 million tonnes in 2023.
Top 10 usable iron ore producers
Collectively, the top five nations – Australia, Brazil, China, India, and Russia – account for over 80% of global output.
Australia's single largest iron ore mine, Roy Hill, is HPPL's majority-owned (70%) $10bn mega operation. Successful development has seen Roy Hill producing 55 million tonnes of ore in 2019. Hancock's Hope Downs joint venture with Rio Tinto produced about 47 million tonnes in the same year.
China has allegedly told its steel mills to stop buying iron ore from BHP (ASX: BHP) as part of contract negotiations. China Mineral Resources Group, formed in 2022 to negotiate with iron ore miners on behalf of mills, is trying to force BHP to agree to long-term contracts at discounted prices.
The top four iron ore producers (Rio Tinto, Vale, BHP and FMG), which account for 69.7% of the global seaborne market share in 2020, had their total exports almost flat in both Q4(288.2 Mt) and the past year(1098 Mt).
1. Australia. Australia is the largest iron producing country by far, with usable iron ore production of 930 million metric tons in 2024.
BHP is bigger than Rio Tinto, consistently ranking as the world's largest mining company by market capitalization, with Rio Tinto typically the second largest, though they are very close competitors in the global resources sector, focusing heavily on iron ore, copper, and other key commodities.
In 2021, Australia was the top global producer for bauxite, iron ore, rutile and zircon (all bulk commodities), as well as lithium which is important for battery storage technologies.
Natural abundance
Iron is the fourth most abundant element, by mass, in the Earth's crust. The core of the Earth is thought to be largely composed of iron with nickel and sulfur. The most common iron-containing ore is haematite, but iron is found widely distributed in other minerals such as magnetite and taconite.
China remains the largest producer of gold in 2024, with a mine production of 370 metric tons (MT). Despite a peak production of 455 MT in 2016, China's consistent output exceeding 300 MT for over a decade solidifies its position as the world leader in gold production.
Countries such as Switzerland, Australia, and Canada are known for producing high-purity gold, while countries such as China and Russia are the largest producers of gold in the world. When it comes to jewelry, the purity and color of gold used can vary depending on the desired durability and aesthetic.
Unsurprisingly, China has the highest reserves of rare earths at 44 million metric tons. The country was also the world's leading rare earths producer in 2024 by a long shot, producing 270,000 MT. Despite already holding the top position, China remains focused on ensuring that its rare earths reserves remain elevated.
The total domestic iron-ore resources are estimated at approximately 75,000 million long tons of crude ore. About 10,000 million tons of the resources is reserves of crude ore that will probably yield 5,500 million tons of concentrates and direct-shipping ore.
Wrought iron is the purest form of iron. It is the purest type of iron since it contains 0.12 to 0.25 percent carbon. Iron is a chemical element with the atomic number 26 and the symbol Fe (from Latin: ferrum).
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Seven countries with the largest crude iron ore reserves in the world
Yandi Mine in Western Australia, was the largest iron ore-producing mine in Australia, producing approximately 80.7 million tonnes of iron ore and an estimated 60.2 million metric tons per annum (mmtpa) of Run-of-Mine (ROM) in 2021.
Rio Tinto, the world's biggest iron ore miner, has a market capitalisation of about $142 billion. Glencore, one of the world's largest base metal producers, is valued at $65 billion.
China, via a state-run enterprise, has reportedly banned its steel manufacturers from buying iron ore from the Australian mining giant BHP, amid a strategic bid by Beijing to reduce prices of the crucial steel-making commodity.
It has been the dominant iron ore mined in Australia since the early 1960s. Approximately 96% of Australia's iron ore exports are high-grade hematite, the bulk of which has been mined from deposits in the Hamersley province of Western Australia.
The country heavily relies on two countries for its iron imports: Australia and Brazil. There were 68.6% of the total import volume of 739 million tons came from Australia, while 20.7% came from Brazil. Together, the imports from these two countries accounted for 89.3% of China's total iron-ore imports (Fig.