For industry, iron ore is one of the most important raw materials of all. Without iron ore, many industries would be unthinkable. Whether it’s for the construction of buildings, cars or bridges, iron ore is essential for the production of steel and iron.
Iron ore is present in the earth’s crust worldwide. So it occurs in many countries around the world. However, iron ore mining is not an important economic factor everywhere, because the deposits are not large enough to make commercial mining worthwhile.
Around the world, iron ore is mined by large mining companies that extract and export the important raw material worldwide. The largest and most important groups in iron ore mining include the British-Australian mining group Rio Tinto and the Australian raw materials group BHP Billiton.
Australia – the country with the largest iron ore deposits
Australia is the country with the largest iron ore deposits in the world. Annual mining of the important raw material is also currently by far the highest in the world, at around 900 million tons per year in Australia. Accordingly, iron ore mining is also important for the Australian economy.
The largest deposits are located in the state of Western Australia, where almost 90 percent of Australia’s production also takes place.
Brazil – the country with the world’s largest deposit
With around 400 million tons of iron ore, Brazil is the second largest producing country. The Amazon jungle is also home to the largest deposit in the world. It is believed that around 17 billion tons of iron ore are still stored in the earth there.
In addition to Japan, Austria and Italy, Germany also exports the necessary iron ore, mainly from Brazil. But iron ore mining is highly controversial in Brazil. In the Amazon region, the ore is mined in huge open-pit mines, where it is increasingly destroying the environment.
In addition, Brazil was already hit by a huge environmental disaster in 2015. At that time, the dam of an iron ore mine burst, causing catastrophic environmental contamination in an area roughly the size of Portugal.
China – one of the largest producing countries, at the same time also the largest consumer country
As with the production of all major raw materials, China is also at the forefront of iron ore production. With 340 million tons, the People’s Republic is currently the third largest mining country.
But China has greatly reduced the mining of iron ore in recent years, because iron ore, like many other raw materials, is a popular speculation object for China.
As recently as 2011, 1.2 billion tons of iron ore were mined in the Middle Kingdom, so a shortage is driving prices. At the same time, however, the People’s Republic of China is now the world’s largest consumer of iron ore.
