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In the June quarter 2011, Australia’s iron ore production increased by 15 per cent, relative to the March quarter 2011, to 121 million tonnes. This was supported by an increase in production at several mines located in the Pilbara region including the ramp-up of production at Fortescue Metal Group’s Chichester Hub 40–55 million tonne expansion.
Reflecting an increase in production, iron ore export volumes in the June quarter increased by 13 per cent, relative to the March quarter, to 106 million tonnes. An increase in export volumes more than offset lower prices resulting in the value of iron ore exports in the June quarter increasing by 7 per cent quarter on quarter to $14.1 billion.
In 2010–11, iron ore production increased by 6 per cent to 450 million tonnes supported by increased production capacity in the Pilbara region. This was despite disruptions to production and exports caused by heavy rain in late 2010 and early 2011. The increase was supported by higher levels of production at several mines, including at Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton operations. Read the rest of this entry »

Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3), one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum. Hematite and ilmenite form a complete solid solution at temperatures above 950 °C.

Hematite is a mineral, colored black to steel or silver-gray, brown to reddish brown, or red. It is mined as the main ore of iron. Varieties include kidney ore, martite (pseudomorphs after magnetite), iron rose and specularite (specular hematite). While the forms of hematite vary, they all have a rust-red streak. Hematite is harder than pure iron, but much more brittle. Maghemite is a hematite- and magnetite-related oxide mineral.

Huge deposits of hematite are found in banded iron formations. Grey hematite is typically found in places where there has been standing water or mineral hot springs, such as those in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. The mineral can precipitate out of water and collect in layers at the bottom of a lake, spring, or other standing water. Hematite can also occur without water, however, usually as the result of volcanic activity. Read the rest of this entry »

iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe3O4), hematite (Fe2O3), goethite (FeO(OH)), limonite (FeO(OH).n(H2O)) or siderite (FeCO3). Ores carrying very high quantities of hematite or magnetite (greater than ~60% iron) are known as “natural ore” or “direct shipping ore”, meaning they can be fed directly into iron-making blast furnaces. Most reserves of such ore have now been depleted. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, which is one of the main raw materials to make steel. 98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel. Indeed, it has been argued that iron ore is “more integral to the global economy than any other commodity, except perhaps oil”.
Approximately 98% of iron ore is used in the manufacture of steel. Steel is used primarily in structural engineering applications, maritime purposes, automobiles and general industrial applications like machine.
Iron-rich rocks are common worldwide, but commercial mining of iron ore by a few countries, namely China, Australia, Brazil and India dominates with significant production in Russia, Ukraine and South Africa. The main limitation of the economy for iron ore is not necessarily the quality or size of the deposits, but the position of the iron ore in terms of market, the cost of rail infrastructure to bring it to market and require the cost of energy to do so as it is a high volume low margins. Read the rest of this entry »