Leading iron ore producing countries worldwide Australia and Brazil are among the world's largest iron ore producers and hold a large portion of the world's iron ore reserves. Australia makes up half of the world's iron ore exports. Brazil exported around 20 percent of the world's total iron exports.
The highest quality and most important iron ores for steelmaking are hematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4). Hematite is the more sought-after ore and the preferred raw material in efficient steelmaking mills.
Magnetite is the finest iron ore with a very high content of iron up to 70 per cent. It has excellent magnetic qualities, especially valuable in the electrical industry. Hematite ore is the most important industrial iron ore in terms of the quantity used, but has a slightly lower iron content than magnetite.
Australia has the world's largest estimated reserves of iron ore with 52 billion tonnes, or 30 per cent of the world's estimated 170 billion tonnes.
Pure hematite contains 69.9% Fe by molecular weight. 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.
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.
Magnetite is the "richest" iron ore, it contains a bit more iron than haematite. It is rather common and found in large deposits.
Australia Export Volume by Major Mineral Commodity: Iron Ore and Pellet data was reported at 874.144 Metric Ton mn in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 866.932 Metric Ton mn for 2021.
In 2021, China imported $146B in Iron Ore, mainly from Australia ($95.7B), Brazil ($28.9B), India ($3.51B), Ukraine ($2.92B), and Chile ($2.25B).
Iron is the most abundant element on earth but not in the crust. The extent of the accessible iron ore reserves is not known, though Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute suggested in 2006 that iron ore could run out within 64 years (that is, by 2070), based on 2% growth in demand per year.
In financial year 2022, the value of iron ore exported from Australia to China amounted to around 116 billion Australian dollars.
Ore production in Australia is overwhelmingly from high-grade hematite and pisolitic goethite-limonite deposits, mostly in the Hamersley Basin region of Western Australia.
What are the biggest iron ore companies listed on the ASX? BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group are the top by market cap. Iron — the world's most commonly used metal — is key for the steel making industry.
Australia is truly in a unique position on iron ore – not only does it have proximity to the largest and fastest growing markets, but it is also endowed with vast, low cost, high quality iron ore resources.
Iron ore is Australia's single largest commodity export and is forecast to earn Australia around A$700 billion over the six years to 2025-26. Iron ore supports 45,600 direct Australian jobs and is a major employer of Indigenous Australians.
Australia's iron ore resource base is capable of sustaining production for at least six decades, according to the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA).
Iron ore is the most important export earner for Australia. Between 2000 and 2020, Australia exported more than $620 billion worth of iron ore to China. In April 2021, the spot price reached the record high of $238 per ton.
Mainland China is still by far the top destination for Australian iron ore, accounting for 79.9% of Australia's exports in 2021.
For iron ore, it remained the largest supplier for China even when relations soured. In 2022, China bought 1.1 billion tonnes of iron ore, 65% of which were from Australia. For Beijing, commodities from Australia are important for its efforts to revive the pandemic-hit economy.
“First, it would mean too big a disruption to the Chinese economy.” Iron ore imports from Australia are worth $85 billion annually, and so far, the agricultural imports hit by China's tariffs and bans are worth just $6 billion, he said. “China would not be able to make up its iron ore needs from other sources.”
China normally takes around 70% of the seaborne trade in iron ore, or around 1 billion tonnes, but it relies on domestic production for a further 900 million tonnes.
China's purchases of iron ore from Australia rose AU$2 billion or 20 per cent over the month, while meat imports increased 28 per cent to A$57 million.
One can find four types of iron ores on earth. They are Haematite, Magnetite, Limonite and Siderite.
The Kiruna mine is the largest and most modern underground iron ore mine in the world. The mine is located in Kiruna in Norrbotten County, Lapland, Sweden. The mine is owned by Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB), a large Swedish mining company.