4 Types of Iron Ore: Fe Grade, Mines and Price

The four iron ores are hematite (Fe2O3), magnetite (Fe3O4), goethite or limonite (hydrated iron oxides) and siderite (FeCO3). Pure magnetite holds the most iron, 72.4% by weight, then hematite at 69.9%, goethite at 62.9% and siderite at 48.2% (AusIMM, Practical Ore Mineralogy). Real ore carries less, because waste rock is mixed in.

Many people who search this phrase mean the four kinds of iron metal instead: pig iron, cast iron, wrought iron and steel. Both meanings are covered below, with a mineral comparison table, field tests, the countries that mine each ore, the benchmark price on 23 October 2026 and a calculator that turns grade into value.

The four iron ore minerals compared

Hundreds of minerals contain iron, but very few can be mined for it. The AusIMM mineral guide tabulates the common iron minerals; of these, hematite, magnetite, goethite, limonite and siderite are the ones discussed as ore (AusIMM). Grouping goethite with limonite gives the usual list of four. The “% Fe” figures are for the pure mineral, worked out from its chemical formula.

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Iron content of the iron ore minerals

Percent iron by weight; pure minerals, plus one mine average

Streak and colour come from the Handbook of Mineralogy entries for hematite, magnetite, goethite and siderite. Limonite is not a single mineral. It is a name for poorly crystalline or non-crystalline hydrated iron oxides, so its iron content varies (AusIMM).

Hematite: the main shipping ore

Hematite is the ore most buyers think of. In BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore technical report, hematite (about 70% Fe) and goethite (about 63% Fe) are the primary iron minerals, found in different mixes across the Pilbara deposits, and the run-of-mine product is direct shipping ore, which means it needs crushing and screening but no concentration plant (BHP, WAIO technical report summary, 2022).

Australia is the clear leader. Geoscience Australia puts the country at first in the world for iron ore resources (30% of the world total) and production (38%), with 954 million tonnes mined in 2024 (Geoscience Australia, Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2025). Brazil mined about 420 million tonnes of usable ore in 2025 (USGS, 2026). For a closer look at one hematite deposit family and its variants, see our haematite and magnetite guide.

Magnetite: lower grade in the ground, higher grade in the pellet

Magnetite is the most iron-rich mineral, but most magnetite ore is low grade. In the Lake Superior taconite belt, the crude ore is a hard, banded rock. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s emission-factor chapter says it says 99% of the crude iron ore produced in the United States is taconite (a chapter based on 1990s data), and that magnetite-bearing crude ore contains 30 to 35% iron by assay, of which only about 75% is recoverable magnetite (US EPA, AP-42 section 11.23, taconite ore processing). The mill crushes and grinds the rock, pulls the magnetite out with magnets, and presses it into pellets.

That upgrade is why magnetite can end up in the premium product class. Fortescue reported in April 2023 that the first magnetite from its Iron Bridge project in the Pilbara graded above 68% Fe, with the project designed for 22 million tonnes a year of concentrate (Fortescue, 30 April 2023). The cost of grinding and magnetic separation is the trade-off: magnetite needs more plant and more energy than direct shipping hematite.

The US Geological Survey says US iron resources are mainly low-grade taconite from the Lake Superior district, which needs beneficiation and agglomeration (making fine concentrate into pellets) before use (USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, iron ore).

Goethite and limonite: the weathered ores

Goethite forms when iron minerals weather in air and water. The Handbook of Mineralogy calls it a common weathering product and an important part of ore in weathered iron deposits. Many Pilbara ores are of this kind. BHP describes supergene martite-goethite ores, in which magnetite has been converted to martite (a hematite that keeps the shape of magnetite crystals) and the waste bands are replaced by goethite (BHP, WAIO technical report summary). The same report describes channel iron deposits, fine-grained goethite-rich gravels in old river channels that are mined and sold as fines only.

Limonite sits below these. AusIMM notes it can be mined if the grade is high enough, but ranks third behind hematite and magnetite, and that it is the common surface oxide residue that marks a sulphide vein below the ground. Because it carries bound water, a tonne of limonite ore holds less iron than a tonne of hematite.

Siderite: the iron carbonate

Siderite has the lowest iron content of the four at 48.2%, because a third of its weight is carbon dioxide. It is a common part of bedded iron ores and metamorphic iron formations (Handbook of Mineralogy). It is a niche ore today, but one famous mine still works it: the Erzberg in Styria, Austria. A 2017 description in Deposits magazine calls it the world’s largest deposit of siderite, mixed with ankerite and dolomite, with iron running from 22% to 40% and averaging 33% (Deposits magazine, 2017).

How to tell the four apart in the field

Geologists do not guess by colour alone. Three quick tests separate most iron minerals, and the numbers below come from the Handbook of Mineralogy.

• Streak: rub the mineral on unglazed white porcelain. Hematite leaves cherry-red to reddish brown, goethite a brownish yellow, magnetite black and siderite white.
• Magnet: magnetite is strongly magnetic. Hematite, goethite and siderite are not, unless they contain magnetite grains.
• Hardness: siderite is soft (about 4 on the Mohs scale) and scratches with a knife. Hematite (5 to 6), goethite (5 to 5.5) and magnetite (5.5 to 6.5) are harder.

A hand lens and a streak plate cannot give you a grade. For that you need an assay, a lab measurement of the iron percentage in a crushed, sampled interval of core or chips.

Where each iron ore type is mined

World mine output of usable iron ore was about 2.6 billion tonnes in 2025, containing about 1.6 billion tonnes of iron (USGS estimates), so the average usable ore carries roughly 62% iron (1,600 divided by 2,600). Australia and Brazil together produced about 860 million tonnes of that contained iron, a little over half the world total (USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026).

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Iron contained in mine output, selected producers

Million tonnes of iron, 2025 estimate

Reserves tell the same story. USGS lists world reserves of 200 billion tonnes of crude ore holding 87 billion tonnes of iron. Australia holds 27 billion tonnes of that iron and Brazil 15 billion. Russia holds 14 billion. Canada (2.3 billion tonnes of iron), South Africa (680 million) and Sweden (600 million) sit lower. The USGS reserve figures are for crude ore, which is why iron content is much lower than ore tonnage.

The ore type shapes the business. Pilbara hematite-goethite ores can ship raw after crushing and screening. US ore is mostly taconite and goes through mills first. Our guide to satellite-based mineral detection explains how exploration teams screen new ground for these iron-rich zones before drilling.

▶ A short clay explainer on the seven environmental impacts of mining. · 2:31

Iron ore price and what grade does to it

The benchmark is 62% Fe fines delivered to China. Trading Economics showed 90.83 US dollars per tonne on 23 October 2026, down 13.8% on a year earlier and 6.5% on a month earlier; it describes the series as 62% Fe fines, cost and freight to the port of Tianjin (Trading Economics, iron ore, 23 October 2026). Prices move daily, so check a live quote before using any number.

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US iron ore average unit value

US$ per tonne, as reported by US mines

Grade matters because buyers pay more for ore that needs less coke and produces less slag. A cargo above the 62% reference earns a premium and one below it takes a discount; the size of each step changes with the market. The USGS series for the United States shows how far the average mine-gate value can swing: 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). That is the average unit value reported by US mines, which mostly sell pellets, so it is not the same as the Chinese fines benchmark.

Calculator: what a tonne of ore is worth at its grade

Use the calculator below to see contained iron and a rough value for a shipment. Enter your own tonnage, grade, benchmark price and the premium or discount per percentage point of iron. The values are examples only.

Types of iron after the furnace: pig iron, cast iron, wrought iron and steel

When people ask for the four types of iron, they often mean the metal made from the ore. The difference is carbon, and the ore type sets the starting point.

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Pig iron and raw steel output, selected producers

Million tonnes, 2025 estimate; China (830 and 980) not plotted

• Pig iron: the blast furnace product. It is high in carbon and brittle, and is mainly an intermediate for steel.
• Cast iron: remelted pig iron poured into moulds, with about 2 to 5% carbon by weight. It casts well but is brittle (US Naval Academy, materials course notes).
• Wrought iron: made by burning most of the carbon out of pig iron, leaving slag threads in a soft, tough metal. The US National Park Service describes how finery hearths turned pig iron into wrought iron by removing excess carbon (National Park Service).
• Steel: iron with carbon between 0 and about 2% by weight (US Naval Academy notes), often with alloying metals such as chromium, nickel or manganese. It is by far the largest product.

USGS estimates world production in 2025 at 1,300 million tonnes of pig iron and 1,900 million tonnes of raw steel (USGS, iron and steel, 2026). Raw steel exceeds pig iron because electric furnaces also melt scrap and direct-reduced iron, which is why the gap is widest in the United States and Turkey. Wrought iron is now a specialty craft material.

Iron oxide, gold and satellite maps

The link between iron and gold is real but small: iron minerals are often the visible clue to other metals. AusIMM notes that limonite, the rusty surface residue, marks the place where sulphide minerals such as pyrite and chalcopyrite weathered, so rust stains on a hillside can point to a sulphide vein below. Satellites cannot see gold itself, but multispectral sensors do pick up iron-oxide colour, clay minerals and fault lines. The short film below explains how those clues are read.

Iron-rich ground is also a target in its own right. Farmonaut screens licence areas with Sentinel-2 satellite data for iron-oxide, clay and structural signals, and lists iron among the minerals it can flag. The output is an exploration target, which sits ahead of any resource estimate and has to be tested by sampling. For finding gold specifically, see our guide to mining prospecting for gold, and for copper settings that overlap with iron oxides see copper deposit types and where to explore.

▶ How satellites map rusty iron stains, clay minerals and faults around ore systems. · 4:25

What to check before you trust an iron ore claim

• Which grade is quoted: pure-mineral iron (72.4% for magnetite) is not the grade of ore from a mine. Ask for the assay of the sample, the cut-off, and whether the figure is crude ore, concentrate or product.
• Impurities: ask for phosphorus, alumina and silica assays as well as iron. BHP notes some Pilbara zones carry higher-than-normal phosphorus.
• Processing route: direct shipping, magnetic separation or roasting each carry a different capital and energy cost.
• Moisture: goethite and limonite hold bound water, so wet tonnes and dry tonnes can differ materially.
• Standards: a published resource under a code such as JORC or NI 43-101 needs a qualified person. A satellite map is an early target, not a resource.

If you hold a licence and want a first view of its iron-oxide pattern, you can get a quote or use the mining query form.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 4 types of iron ore?

Hematite, magnetite, goethite (often grouped with limonite) and siderite. They hold 69.9%, 72.4%, 62.9% and 48.2% iron when pure (AusIMM).

What are the 4 types of iron?

The common list for the metal is pig iron, cast iron, wrought iron and steel, which differ mainly in carbon content.

Which iron ore has the highest iron content?

Magnetite, at 72.4% iron in the pure mineral. Hematite follows at 69.9%.

What is the primary ore of iron?

Hematite and magnetite are the two main ores. Hematite is the main shipping ore from Western Australia and Brazil, while magnetite dominates taconite mining around Lake Superior.

Which iron ore is magnetic?

Magnetite is strongly magnetic, which is why mills use magnetic separation to upgrade low-grade taconite. The Handbook of Mineralogy lists it as strongly magnetic.

Is limonite an iron ore?

It can be, but it is a weaker one. AusIMM ranks it third behind hematite and magnetite, and its iron content ranges from about 40% to 60%.

What is taconite?

Taconite is a hard, banded, low-grade iron rock. If magnetite is the main iron mineral it is called magnetic taconite, and if hematite is the main mineral it is called hematic taconite (US EPA, AP-42).

Is siderite still mined?

Yes, at the Erzberg in Austria, where the ore averages about 33% iron (Deposits magazine, 2017).

Is gold found in iron ore?

Iron ore is mined for iron. Rusty iron oxide on the surface, however, can mark weathered sulphide veins that may carry other metals, so geologists treat it as a clue and confirm with sampling.

What is the benchmark price of iron ore?

It is the price of 62% Fe fines delivered to China. It was 90.83 US dollars per tonne on 23 October 2026 (Trading Economics).