In the uppermost 15-20km crust of our planet, the four most abundant elements are oxygen, silicon and magnesium, and then – fourth – is iron. Australia is the world’s iron capital. We account for more than a third of world iron-ore production, and provided 56% of global iron-ore exports in 2022.
The steel-grey ore is mined in several parts of the world, but Western Australia’s Pilbara region, Brazil and China each have particularly large deposits. Iron ore is often relatively accessible, excavated from open mines, crushed, and then heated to above 1500°C. The result is raw cast iron.
The world is better at recycling iron and steel than it is for some other materials, such as plastics, but iron may now be on the edge of recognition in an entirely different way – as a potential fuel in the shift into the atmosphere.
