Main Ore of Iron: Hematite, Grades, Mines and Price

The main ore of iron is hematite (Fe2O3), an iron oxide that holds 69.9% iron when pure. Geology.com calls it the most important ore of iron, and it is the main mineral in the big shipping mines of Western Australia and Brazil. Magnetite (Fe3O4, 72.4% iron when pure) is the second main ore and leads where the rock must be ground and upgraded, such as the Lake Superior taconite mines in the United States.

This page explains why hematite wins, where magnetite takes over, what grade real ore carries, which countries mine it, how the 62% Fe price works and how to turn a grade into contained iron with the calculator further down. Figures are dated and sourced; prices move daily.

Quick answer: hematite, then magnetite

If a school question asks you to “name the main ore of iron”, the expected answer is hematite. If a buyer, consultant or investor asks the same question, the honest answer has two parts: hematite is the main ore by tonnes shipped, and magnetite is the main ore where low-grade rock is upgraded into concentrate and pellets.

The pure-mineral iron figures come from the AusIMM mineral guide, which also ranks limonite third behind hematite and magnetite. “Fe” is the chemical symbol for iron, and a grade such as “62% Fe” means 62% of the ore’s dry weight is iron. For a side-by-side of all four ore families with field tests, see our guide to the 4 types of iron ore.

Why hematite is the main ore of iron

Three things make hematite the default answer: grade, cost and size.

• Grade without a concentrator. Ore that already holds about 60% iron or more can go to the steel plant after crushing and screening. The industry calls this direct shipping ore (DSO). BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore technical report names hematite (about 70% Fe) and goethite (about 63% Fe) as its primary iron minerals and describes the product as direct shipping ore (BHP WAIO technical report summary, 2022).
• Lower processing cost. Skipping the grinding and magnetic separation that magnetite rock needs saves plant, power and water. Grinding is often the largest energy user in a mineral plant.
• Huge, shallow deposits. Hematite ore bodies in Western Australia and Brazil run to billions of tonnes close to surface, so they can be mined in open pits with large trucks and long rail lines to port.

Geology.com notes that hematite was once mined at thousands of locations, but today almost all output comes from a few dozen large deposits where heavy equipment investment pays off (Geology.com, hematite). That concentration is why a handful of companies and two countries set the tone for the whole market.

Hematite is easy to recognise. It ranges from steel-grey and metallic to dull red, and it always leaves a cherry-red to reddish-brown streak on unglazed porcelain. It is not magnetic unless magnetite grains are mixed in. Our haematite and magnetite mineral guide covers the varieties (specular, kidney ore, oolitic) in more detail.

Where the main iron ore comes from: banded iron formations

Most of the world’s iron ore, hematite and magnetite alike, sits in or comes from banded iron formations (BIFs). These are old sedimentary rocks made of thin, alternating layers of iron oxide and silica (chert or jasper). Geology.com describes them as layered deposits of hematite with shale or silica, and the mined rock in North America is often called taconite (Geology.com). Many BIFs are around two billion years old or more and formed when iron dissolved in seawater precipitated as oxide.

That is why the correct answer to the textbook question “the principal source of iron being mined today comes from which ores?” is banded iron formations, not laterites, sulphides, bog iron or porphyry systems.

A raw BIF typically carries 25-35% iron. Two things turn it into ore:

1. Natural enrichment. Over millions of years, groundwater leaches out the silica and leaves iron behind. The result is high-grade hematite ore (often 60-68% Fe), sometimes with goethite. In BHP’s Pilbara report, original magnetite has turned into martite (hematite that keeps the shape of magnetite crystals) and waste bands are replaced by goethite.
2. Industrial upgrading. Where nature did not enrich the rock, mines grind it fine and pull out the magnetite with magnets. This is taconite mining.

Two smaller ore families come from BIFs too. Channel iron deposits are goethite-rich gravels washed from BIFs into old river channels. Detrital ores are fragments shed from eroding hematite ridges. Wikipedia’s iron ore overview lists both alongside the dominant altered BIF ores of the Hamersley Range and Newman in Western Australia (Wikipedia, iron ore).

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Magnetite: the second main ore of iron

Magnetite has the highest iron content of any ore mineral, but most magnetite ore is low grade in the ground. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s emission-factor chapter on taconite says magnetite-bearing crude ore contains 30 to 35% iron by assay (US EPA, AP-42 section 11.23). Mills crush and grind it, recover the magnetite with magnetic separators and roll the fine concentrate into pellets.

The payoff is a product that can be richer than shipping hematite. Fortescue reported in April 2023 that the first concentrate from its Iron Bridge magnetite project in the Pilbara graded above 68% Fe, from a project designed for 22 million tonnes a year (Fortescue, 30 April 2023). The cost is more plant, more power and more water than a DSO hematite mine.

In the United States, the USGS says iron resources are mainly low-grade taconite in the Lake Superior district that must be concentrated and pelletised before use. Eight open-pit mines in Michigan, Minnesota and Utah, each with concentration and pelletising plants, shipped 98% of US usable iron ore in 2025 (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, iron ore). So for a US reader, “the main iron ore mined at home” is magnetite taconite, even though hematite is the main ore worldwide.

Hematite vs magnetite at a glance

The “typical mined grade” row is a rule of thumb from the sources on this page, not a standard. Every deposit has its own grade, impurity and moisture profile, and buyers price all three.

Iron in the main ores and in real deposits

The chart below sets the pure-mineral figures next to the reserve grades that companies report. Carajás and Simandou reserves are high-grade hematite, close to the 69.9% ceiling. The Erzberg siderite mine in Austria shows what a lower-grade carbonate ore looks like: Deposits magazine puts its average at 33% iron (Deposits, 2017).

Chart

Iron content: pure minerals vs reported deposit grades

Percent iron by weight

At Carajás in Pará, Brazil, the North Range reserve was described as 6,200 million tonnes at 65.8% Fe, with very low silica and alumina, and current output about 10% lump and 90% fines (Mining Technology, Carajás). The upper part of the ore body is soft, enriched material passing down into hematite to about 300 metres. Read more in our Carajás iron ore guide.

In Guinea, Rio Tinto reports Simandou ore reserves of 0.2 billion tonnes at 66.4% Fe (proved) and 1.3 billion tonnes at 65.0% Fe (probable), and says the first shipment left Guinea in December 2025 (Rio Tinto, Simandou). This is a new source of high-grade hematite entering the seaborne market.

Which countries mine the main ore of iron

World mine output was about 2.6 billion tonnes of usable ore in 2025, holding about 1.6 billion tonnes of iron, according to USGS estimates. Dividing one by the other gives an average of roughly 62% iron in usable ore, which is why 62% Fe became the benchmark grade.

Chart

Iron contained in mine output, selected producers

Million tonnes of iron, 2025 estimate

Australia mined about 980 million tonnes of usable ore holding 600 million tonnes of iron, and Brazil about 420 million tonnes holding 260 million. Together that is just over half of the world’s contained iron (USGS, 2026). Both countries mine mostly hematite-goethite ore. USGS data also put Australia first for both mine output and iron held in reserves (USGS, 2026).

Smaller producers mine a mix. Canada’s Labrador Trough and Sweden’s Kiruna district are major sources of pellet feed, Russia mines large magnetite-quartzite belts, and South Africa’s Northern Cape ships hematite. For the steel and other uses that follow, see our post on the uses of iron.

Reserves: how long the main ores last

USGS lists world reserves of about 200 billion tonnes of crude ore containing about 87 billion tonnes of iron. Australia holds 27 billion tonnes of that iron, Brazil 15 billion and Russia 14 billion; Canada (2.3 billion), South Africa (680 million) and Sweden (600 million) sit lower (USGS, 2026). At 1.6 billion tonnes of iron mined per year, those reserves cover more than 50 years of current output, and resources beyond reserves are far larger. The constraint is grade and cost, not total iron.

Chart

Iron contained in reserves, selected countries

Billion tonnes of iron

That matters for the hematite-versus-magnetite story. As the richest DSO deposits are worked out, more supply will come from deposits that need beneficiation, the general term for upgrading ore by crushing, grinding, washing or magnetic separation.

Iron ore price and the 62% Fe benchmark

The world benchmark is 62% Fe fines delivered to China. Trading Economics showed 92.15 US dollars per tonne on 11 November 2026, up 1.45% on a month earlier and 11.54% lower than a year earlier (Trading Economics, iron ore). Prices move daily, so check a live quote before using any figure.

Chart

US iron ore average unit value

US$ per tonne, as reported by US mines

Grade changes the price a seller receives. Cargoes above 62% Fe usually earn a premium because they need less coke and make less slag in the blast furnace; cargoes below it, or with high silica, alumina or phosphorus, take a discount. The size of the step changes with the market.

The US series shows how much the average can swing. The average unit value reported by US mines was 141.78 US dollars per tonne in 2021, 156.42 in 2022, 120.36 in 2023, 100.10 in 2024 and an estimated 89 in 2025 (USGS, 2026). These are mostly pellet sales, so they are not the same as the Chinese fines benchmark.

Calculator: contained iron and value at your grade

Enter a tonnage, the grade from an assay, today’s 62% Fe price and an assumed premium or discount per percentage point of iron. The calculator returns contained iron and an indicative value. It is an example, not a quote.

From ore to steel

About 98% of mined iron ore goes into steelmaking (Wikipedia, iron ore). Hematite lump and sinter made from fines, or magnetite pellets, are fed to a blast furnace with coke and limestone. The furnace makes pig iron, a high-carbon iron that is then refined into steel. A growing share of high-grade pellets goes to direct-reduction plants, which strip the oxygen with natural gas or hydrogen instead of coke.

USGS estimates world output in 2025 at about 1,300 million tonnes of pig iron and 1,900 million tonnes of raw steel (USGS, iron and steel, 2026). Steel exceeds pig iron because electric furnaces also melt scrap and direct-reduced iron.

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Other iron minerals that are not the main ore

Goethite and limonite are weathering products. Our guide to goethite, limonite and hematite explains how they grade into each other. They hold less iron than hematite because of bound water, so wet and dry tonnes differ.

Siderite, the iron carbonate, holds 48.2% iron when pure and needs roasting to drive off carbon dioxide. Pyrite (iron sulphide) contains iron but is not used as iron ore because the sulphur is a pollutant; it matters instead as a host for gold and as a source of acid drainage. Ilmenite holds iron and titanium but is mined for titanium.

How exploration teams look for iron ore

Iron oxides are among the easiest minerals to see from orbit. Hematite and goethite absorb strongly in visible and near-infrared light, so multispectral satellites such as Sentinel-2 can map iron-oxide-rich ground, ridges of BIF and the clay and structure around them. Magnetite is found with airborne magnetic surveys, because it is strongly magnetic.

A practical sequence for a licence holder or consultant:

1. Screen the area with satellite iron-oxide and structure maps to find ridges and enriched caps worth a visit.
2. Check magnetics from government or airborne surveys for magnetite bands.
3. Map and sample outcrops; record streak, magnetism and hardness.
4. Assay the samples for Fe, SiO2, Al2O3, P and loss on ignition.
5. Drill the best targets before any resource is stated under a code such as JORC or NI 43-101.

Farmonaut’s satellite-based mineral detection screens licence areas for iron-oxide, clay and structural signals. The output is an exploration target that has to be tested by sampling. For other questions you can use the mining query form or contact us.

What to check before you trust an iron ore grade

• Pure mineral or ore? 69.9% is the ceiling for pure hematite, not a mine grade. Ask for the assay and the sampling method.
• Crude ore, concentrate or product? A magnetite project may quote 30% in the ground and 68% in the concentrate. Both can be true.
• Impurities. Ask for silica, alumina and phosphorus as well as iron.
• Moisture. Prices are per dry tonne; goethite-rich ore holds more water.
• Reporting standard. A satellite or surface sample is a target, not a resource.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the main ore of iron?

Hematite (Fe2O3), which holds 69.9% iron when pure. Magnetite is the second main ore.

What is the name of the main ore of iron?

Hematite, also spelled haematite. Its name comes from the Greek word for blood, because of its red streak.

Which ore of iron has the highest iron content?

Magnetite, at 72.4% iron in the pure mineral, slightly ahead of hematite at 69.9% (AusIMM).

Is magnetite or hematite the main iron ore?

Hematite by tonnes shipped worldwide; magnetite in taconite districts such as Lake Superior, where low-grade rock is upgraded into pellets.

What is the principal source of iron mined today?

Banded iron formations. Most hematite and magnetite ore is either enriched banded iron formation or taconite ground from it.

What are the main ores of iron?

Hematite, magnetite, goethite or limonite and siderite. Hematite and magnetite supply most of the world’s iron.

What is direct shipping ore?

Ore rich enough, usually about 60% Fe or more, to be sold after crushing and screening without a concentration plant.

What is taconite?

A hard, low-grade banded iron rock of about 30-35% iron that is ground and magnetically concentrated into pellets (US EPA).

Which country produces the most iron ore?

Australia, with about 980 million tonnes of usable ore in 2025, followed by Brazil at about 420 million tonnes (USGS estimates).

What is the price of iron ore today?

The 62% Fe benchmark was 92.15 US dollars per tonne on 11 November 2026 (Trading Economics). Check a live quote; it changes daily.

How do you identify hematite?

Rub it on unglazed porcelain: hematite leaves a cherry-red to red-brown streak and is not magnetic. Magnetite leaves a black streak and attracts a magnet.

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