List of the largest iron ore producers

Countries with iron ore production

The list of the largest iron ore producers contains tables and graphics with precise information on the subject of iron ore .

overview

In 2011, the People's Republic of China (1.2 billion tons), Australia (480 million tons) and Brazil (390 million tons) were the three most important producing countries for iron ore, which together accounted for 73.9 percent of the 2, 8 billion tons . Important mining areas in Europe are in Russia , Ukraine and Sweden .

The economically minable reserves were estimated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 2011 at 170 billion tons worldwide. If production remained the same, iron ore could still be extracted for about 61 years. The largest stocks are in Australia (20.6%), Brazil (17.1%) and Russia (14.7%). Large parts of the Australian production are exported to China. In the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, in the Serra dos Carajás, is the largest iron ore deposit in the world with an estimated 17 billion tons of strip iron ore, which is extracted in a huge open pit.

In the non-European countries, but also in Russia and the Ukraine, predominantly higher-quality ores are mined and offered more cheaply than by producers in the European Union . As a result, almost all of the former producing countries in the EU, for example Luxembourg (1982), Great Britain (1993), Spain (1997) and France (2003), stopped their production or, as in Germany, reduced it considerably. In Liberia , too , which was one of the largest producing countries in the world until the outbreak of civil war in 1989, mining ceased in 1993.

Demand has increased sharply since the beginning of the 21st century, as the People's Republic of China, several countries in East Asia and the USA increased their steel production. The resulting shortage on the raw material market (ore, steel scrap) led to an increase in world market prices.

Production, reserves and stock base

The United States Geological Survey offers the following definition of this: The reserve base is that part of an identified resource that meets the specific minimum physical and chemical criteria for current mining and production practices, including those for grade , Quality , thickness and depth . The reserves are that part of the supply base that could be economically extracted or produced at a given time. The term does not have to mean that extraction systems are installed and working. Reserves only contain exploitable substances.

The countries with the highest production and the highest reserves are listed in millions of tons. The publication of data on the stock base was discontinued in 2009.

Figures in million tons (2011)

rank	country	Mining (iron ore)	Reserves (raw ore)	Reserves (iron content)
1.	People's Republic of China	1,200	23,000	7,200
2.	Australia	480	35,000	17,000
3.	Brazil	390	29,000	16,000
4th	India	240	7,000	4,500
5.	Russia	100	25,000	14,000
6th	Ukraine	80	6,000	2,100
7th	South Africa	55	1,000	650
8th.	United States	54	6,900	2,100
9.	Canada	37	6,300	2,300
10.	Iran	30th	2,500	1,400
11.	Sweden	25th	3,500	2,200
12.	Kazakhstan	24	3,000	1,000
13.	Venezuela	16	4,000	2,400
14th	Mexico	14th	700	400
15th	Mauritania	11	1,100	700
	Other countries	50	12,000	6,000
	world	2,800	170,000	80,000

advancement

By country

All figures relate to the states within their current borders.

Production in thousands of tons of gross weight

Rank (2016)	country	1970	1980	1990	2000	2007	2008	2009	2010	2016
1.	People's Republic of China	43,690	112,580	179,344	223,950	707.073	824.011	880.171	1,071,555	1,280,893
2.	Australia	51.189	99.160	109.166	176,300	299.038	342,435	394.069	433,452	858.025
3.	Brazil	36,381	113.024	152.302	208,830	354,674	351.200	331,000	372,300	424.200
4th	India	31,366	40,682	53,702	80,762	213.246	212.960	218,639	208.111	192.081
5.	Russia	91,451	114,477	110.494	86,630	104,953	99.272	92,050	99.060	101,000
6th	Ukraine	84,316	105,545	81,315	55,883	77,930	72,688	66,452	78,541	66,900
7th	South Africa	9,192	25,738	30.291	33,707	42.101	48,983	55,313	58,709	66,456
8th.	Canada	47,458	48,753	36,688	36,740	33,158	32.102	31,669	37.001	48,990
9.	Iran	10	590	2,611	12.208	35.195	38,200	34,034	34,500	48,000
10.	United States	91,534	70,727	55,458	63,089	52,500	53,600	26,700	49,500	40,800
11.	Kazakhstan	19,275	24,129	23,289	16,157	19,582	21,486	46,248	50,190	35,417
12.	Sweden	31,518	27,174	19,877	20,557	24,714	23,888	17,677	25,292	31,843
13.	Mexico	4,812	8,149	9,209	11,326	16,540	17,709	17,693	21,210	20,400
14th	Mauritania	9,103	8,936	11,416	11,069	11,815	10,968	10,275	11,109	13,268
15th	Chile	11,265	8,960	7,800	8,729	8,818	9,316	8,242	9.130	14,619
16.	Venezuela	22,070	13,681	20,240	17,353	19,632	19,332	14,207	14,331	11,000
17th	Turkey	2,671	2,707	6,155	4,076	4,550	3,990	4,170	5,188	7,800
18th	Peru	12,585	5,870	3,307	4.143	6.277	6,348	5,435	6,348	7,663
19th	Sierra Leone									6,576
20th	Indonesia									3,800
21st	New Zealand	142	3,160	2,298	2,692	1,724	2,020	2,093	2,439	3,496
22nd	Vietnam	0	0	0	300	1,200	1,200	1,800	1,900	3,154
23.	Austria	3,997	3,200	2,301	1,859	2.153	2,033	2.002	2,069	2,777
24.	Mongolia	0	0	0	0	265	1,387	1,379	3,203	2.210
25th	North Korea	8,000	8,200	9,500	5,000	5.126	5,316	4,955	5,000	2,000
26th	Malaysia	4,491	372	348	259	802	982	1,470	3,466	1.914
27.	Norway	4,008	3,883	2,081	470	630	746	896	3,105	1,758
28.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,880	2,286	2,100	363	2,944	2,667	2,727	1,401	1,752
29	Liberia	22,294	18,250	3,981	0	0	0	0	0	1,522
30th	Egypt	451	1,865	2,432	2,500	2,185	1,811	1,780	1,800	1,500
31.	Algeria	2,863	3,454	2,930	1,645	1,982	2,077	1,307	1,474	945
32.	Colombia									716
33.	Germany	5,953	1999	168	462	422	455	364	390	514
34.	South Korea	635	619	298	163	291	366	455	513	454
35.	Pakistan	0	0	0	0	126	286	320	402	432
	Thailand	23	84	132	100	1,555	1,710	616	977	0
	Angola	6.091	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	France	56,805	29,200	8,726	31	0	0	0	0	0
	United Kingdom	12,018	916	53	1	0	0	0	0	0
	Luxembourg	5,722	605	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Spain	7,051	9.227	3,030	75	0	0	0	0	0

According to ore grade

The average iron content of the mined ores continues to decrease.

The three leading producing countries

Production in thousands of tons of gross weight

year 1. Prod. 2. Prod. 3. Prod. 1950 98.040 39,651 29,988 1951 119,484 44,879 35.203 1952 100,405 52,560 40,801 1953 119,892 59,642 42,444 1954 79,380 64,316 43,812 1955 104,652 71,862 50,268 1956 99,420 78,100 52,692 1957 107,856 84,200 57,768 1958 88,816 69,036 59,460 1959 94.015 60,900 60,444 1960 105,857 89.040 66,912 1961 117,633 72,948 66,576 1962 128.111 73,752 66,324 1963 137,455 73,884 57,888 1964 145.856 85.140 60,936 1965 153,432 88.020 59,520 1966 160.271 91,596 55.056 1967 168.246 84,744 49,224 1968 176,616 86.508 55,236 1969 186.134 89.004 55,140 1970 195.506 91,534 56,805 1971 203.004 82,116 62,063 1972 208.127 76,493 64,401 1973 216.104 88,397 84,828 1974 224,883 96,950 85,350 1975 232.803 97,651 88,490 1976 239.109 93,255 82,440 1977 239.716 95,923 93,840 1978 244.231 117,790 84,372 1979 241,597 118,760 95,457 1980 244,762 113.024 112,580 1981 242,416 104,590 97,850 1982 244.410 107,320 93,147 1983 245.189 113,660 88,695 1984 247.104 126.710 111,311 1985 247,700 137,835 128,200 1986 249.976 149,450 129,500 1987 250,900 161,430 134,700 1988 249,737 167,700 145.040 1989 241,348 171,854 153,740 year 1. Prod. 2. Prod. 3. Prod. 1990 236.200 179,344 152.302 1991 198,862 190,558 150,657 1992 209,762 145.820 113.097 1993 226.352 149.970 121,429 1994 250,696 167.810 128,662 1995 261,919 178,380 139,067 1996 252.283 179,870 147,200 1997 268,612 187,950 157.766 1998 246,890 183,050 155.731 1999 237.230 188,740 154.268 2000 223,950 212,576 167.935 2001 218,300 201,430 181.140 2002 231,400 214,560 187.210 2003 261.085 230,707 211.997 2004 310.104 270,522 234,697 2005 426.232 292,400 257,525 2006 588.171 318,629 275.091 2007 707.073 354,674 299.038 2008 824.011 351.200 342,435 2009 880.171 394.069 331,000 2010 1,071,555 433,452 372,300

World funding

The following table shows the world production of iron ore in millions of tons.

Production in millions of tons

year Prod. 1904 96 1905 116 1906 100 1907 135 1908 109 1909 126 1910 142 1911 133 1912 151 1913 177 1914 118 1915 116 1916 139 1917 142 1918 127

year Prod. 1919 110 1920 124 1921 73 1922 104 1923 136 1924 130 1925 151 1926 155 1927 171 1928 174 1929 201 1930 179 1931 119 1932 76 1933 91

year Prod. 1934 120 1935 138 1936 170 1937 212 1938 162 1939 204 1940 204 1941 220 1942 235 1943 231 1944 203 1945 162 1946 154 1947 187 1948 219

year Prod. 1949 223 1950 251 1951 294 1952 297 1953 338 1954 405 1955 369 1956 395 1957 434 1958 405 1959 439 1960 522 1961 503 1962 508 1963 523

year Prod. 1964 583 1965 621 1966 636 1967 623 1968 679 1969 713 1970 769 1971 787 1972 778 1973 846 1974 898 1975 902 1976 899 1977 841 1978 847

year Prod. 1979 903 1980 891 1981 858 1982 781 1983 740 1984 829 1985 861 1986 864 1987 903 1988 967 1989 1010 1990 983 1991 956 1992 925 1993 953

year Prod. 1994 992 1995 1030 1996 1020 1997 1070 1998 1050 1999 1020 2000 1070 2001 1040 2002 1100 2003 1210 2004 1360 2005 1550 2006 1840 2007 2040 2008 2210

year Prod. 2009 2240 2010 2590 2011 2800 2012 2972 2013 3181 2014 3386 2015 3300 2016 3305

See also

• List of the largest pig iron producers
• Steel / tables and graphs

literature

• Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag: Fischer-Weltalmanach. Figures-data-facts , 1960 ff.

Web links

• US Geological Survey
• Index Mundi
• The world at a glance

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Handelsblatt: John F. Jungclaussen: The secret methods of the raw materials industry. , dated February 7, 2012
2. ↑ Focus: Brazil - New Momentum , from December 1, 2010
3. ↑ United States Geological Survey: World Mine Production and Reserves (PDF; 29 kB)
4. ^ ^{A b} British Geological Survey: World mineral statistics archive
5. ↑ World Steel Association: Statistics archive ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ United States Geological Survey: World Production (PDF; 298 kB)