Iron ore
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Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rus
Hematite, the main iron ore found in Brazilian mines
Stockpiles of iron ore pellets like this one are used in steel production.
An illustration of iron ore being unloaded at docks in Toledo, Ohio
Banded iron rock, estimated at being 2.1 billion years old
Steelmaking
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Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. Steel has been made for millennia and was commercialized on a massive scale in the 1850s and 1860s, using the Bessemer and Sie
Steel mill with two arc furnaces
Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was one of the world's largest manufacturers of steel before its 2003 closure.
Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo described the Japanese use of the Bessemer process.
Bessemer converter at Högbo Bruk, Sandviken.