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The ironworks was of crucial importance in the development of the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur iron ores worldwide. It was the site of the experiments by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and his cousin Percy Gilchrist that led to "the basic steel process" or " Gilchrist–Thomas process ".
Although channel iron deposits are typically low-grade at 53% to 57% Fe in-situ, they are composed of goethite-limonite which are hydrated iron oxide species. Ore typically contains around 8% to 12% water, and <5% SiO 2, and <3% Al 2 O 3. The hydrous iron oxides can be calcined, and the CID ore on a volatile-free basis is around 63% Fe or more.
Hematite and magnetite are the most common types of Iron ore. Roughly 98% of iron ore on the global market is used in iron and steel production. [8] The other 2% of iron ore is used to make powdered iron for certain types of steel, auto parts, and catalysts; radioactive iron for medicine; and iron blue in paints, inks, cosmetics, and plastics. [5]
Elemental iron is virtually absent on the Earth's surface except as iron-nickel alloys from meteorites and very rare forms of deep mantle xenoliths.Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in Earth's crust, composing about 5% by weight, [4] the vast majority is bound in silicate or, more rarely, carbonate minerals, and smelting pure iron from these minerals would require a prohibitive ...
As of 2023, India is the world's 4th largest exporter of iron ore. [67] The country also accounts for 9.2% of the world's iron ore production as of 2023. [67] In 2021, the value of India's iron ore exports were $4.2 billion. [68] As of 2019, India has the world's 7th largest iron ore reserves, with reserves of 5.5 billion tonnes. [69]
In the iron and steel industry, direct reduction is a set of processes for obtaining iron from iron ore, by reducing iron oxides without melting the metal. The resulting product is pre-reduced iron ore. Historically, direct reduction was used to obtain a mix of iron and slag called a bloom in a bloomery.
The geology of the Kiruna ore has many parallels to that of the iron ore of El Laco volcano in Chile, leading to the claim they were both formed by volcanic activity. [20] In 1973 Tibor Parák pointed out a series of problems with the magmatic origin theory and proposed instead that the ore originated as a sediment in a volcanic environment. [21]
While the first iron ore was likely meteoric iron, and hematite was far easier to smelt, in Africa, where the first evidence of iron metallurgy occurs, [dubious – discuss] limonite is the most prevalent iron ore. Before smelting, as the ore was heated and the water driven off, more and more of the limonite was converted to hematite.