Ores are rocks or minerals from which a valuable substance - usually metal - can be extracted. Some common ores include galena (lead ore), bornite and malachite (copper), cinnabar (mercury), and bauxite (aluminum). The most common iron ores are magnetite and hematite (a rusty-colored mineral formed by iron and oxygen), which both contain about 70% iron.
There are several processes for refining iron from ore. The older process is to burn iron ore with charcoal (carbon) and oxygen provided by bellows. The carbon and oxygen, including the oxygen in the ore, combine and leave the iron. However, the iron does not get hot enough to melt completely and it contains silicates left over from the ore. It can be heated and hammered out to form wrought iron.
The more modern process uses a blast furnace to heat iron ore, limestone, and coke (a coal product, not the soft drink). The resulting reactions separate out the iron from the oxygen in the ore. This 'pig iron' needs to be further mixed to create wrought iron. It can also be used for another important purpose: when heated with carbon and other elements, it becomes stronger metal called steel.
Iron ores are rocks from which metallic iron can be extracted. It is one of the most abundant rock elements, constituting about 5% of the Earth's crust and is the 4th most common element in the world. It is abundant in Australia and mined mostly in Western Australia but is also common around the globe and is mined in around 50 countries. Almost 93% of Australia's identified iron ore resources are found in Western Australia, according to the Federal Government's Australian Mines Atlas. The quality of Australia's iron ore is considered to be some of the best in the world.
Iron ore is part of our everyday lives and our modern world would look completely different without it. 98% of world iron ore is used to make steel, which accounts for over 90% of all metals used in the world. Steel is used in building for so many things, from cars, trains and ships through to the high rise buildings in our cities and the bridges that connect us. Steel is used to create pipes, cars, ships, engines, roofs, nails, nuts, bolts, tools, machinery, in building & construction, to make white goods, in manufacturing, food cans and much more.
