3 ms·

You do get some very large deposits of mostly pure iron, all of which in Europe would be fully mined out by now. Here's a mine in Northern Canada near my own wh

by loufe 2y ago

You do get some very large deposits of mostly pure iron, all of which in Europe would be fully mined out by now. Here's a mine in Northern Canada near my own which has 60-70% pure iron ore (truly astronomically high purity compared to ores for other metals).

gus_massa 2y ago
Where, so I can take a look for more details. Natural iron minerals are made of oxizized iron, that includes oxigen or sulfur. The chemical process to deoxidize iron requires a lot of energy.
- throwway120385 2y ago
  I thought early Earth had no free oxygen with which to oxidize metal until life started producing it as a waste product? Isn't that why the banded iron formations exist?
  - meindnoch 2y ago
    Banded iron formations are iron oxide, not elemental iron. Vast amounts of iron were dissolved in Earths oceans, until oxygen produced by photosynthesis oxidized it, to form iron oxide, which precipitated and sank to the bottom. This process went on for 2.5 billion years until all the dissolved iron was consumed.
  - gus_massa 2y ago
    > I thought early Earth had no free oxygen [XXX] until life started producing it as a waste product? It's correct, but metal did get oxidized abyway before that. Don't expect to time travel and see bunchs of metalic Sodium. I'm only 99% sure thre was neither metalic Iron. Anyway, I googled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_iron_formation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_iron_formation The idea is that the water alewady had oxidized iron(2+) and some bacterias oxidized it to iron(3+) that is no so soluble and then you got deposits of mixed iron(3+), iron(2+) and oxygen (2-).
- loufe 2y ago
  Apologies, forgot to paste it when submitting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine There are some known techniques to deoxidize iron from the medieval and renaissance periods, and they take a lot of work (and even more wood). Here's an EXCELLENT write-up for anyone curious, https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/ https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-...
  - gus_massa 2y ago
    From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine > with its four massive iron ore deposits of 65-70% pure iron ore From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_ore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_ore > 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 rusty red. The iron is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe_3O_4, 72.4% Fe), hematite (Fe_2O_3, 69.9% Fe), goethite (FeO(OH), 62.9% Fe), limonite (FeO(OH)·n(H_2O), 55% Fe), or siderite (FeCO_3, 48.2% Fe). > *There are some known techniques to deoxidize iron from the medieval and renaissance periods, [...]. I agree. To deoxidize iron you must heat it to a few thousand degrees and mix it with coal, so the carbon in the coal steals the oxygens in the ore and you get metalic iron. (I'm oversimplifiying, and ignoring a lot of details that I don't even know.) It's not easy and not cheap.
meind54 2y ago
The most pure type of iron ore is magnetite (Fe3O4). Magnetite contains the highest iron content among the common iron ore types, with approximately 72.4% iron content. It's still an oxide that requires extraction though...
meindnoch 2y ago
Iron ore is iron oxide, not elemental iron. Elemental iron on Earth is extremely rare due to the oxidizing atmosphere. It is found either in meteorites, or so called telluric iron deposits (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluric_iron https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluric_iron), which is only found on Greenland, and was produced by iron ore getting accidentally smelted by magmatic processes.
- loufe 2y ago
  Yes, but the 60%-70% I mention is explicitly Fe content, and not the magnetite/hematite content. Around page 165 in the NI-43-101 they have some details: https://www.miningdataonline.com/reports/MaryRiver_Technical_012011.pdf https://www.miningdataonline.com/reports/MaryRiver_Technical...
  - meindnoch 2y ago
    The deposit contains 60-70% of iron atoms, in various iron oxides, silicates, oxides, carbonates, etc. It's not elemental iron. It has to be smelted to get elemental iron. That's like saying seawater has 12.5% hydrogen. Technically true, but you need an awful lot of work to get that hydrogen into elemental form.

by loufe 2y ago

gus_massa 2y ago

Where, so I can take a look for more details. Natural iron minerals are made of oxizized iron, that includes oxigen or sulfur. The chemical process to deoxidize iron requires a lot of energy.

throwway120385 2y ago
I thought early Earth had no free oxygen with which to oxidize metal until life started producing it as a waste product? Isn't that why the banded iron formations exist?
- meindnoch 2y ago
  Banded iron formations are iron oxide, not elemental iron. Vast amounts of iron were dissolved in Earths oceans, until oxygen produced by photosynthesis oxidized it, to form iron oxide, which precipitated and sank to the bottom. This process went on for 2.5 billion years until all the dissolved iron was consumed.
- gus_massa 2y ago
  > I thought early Earth had no free oxygen [XXX] until life started producing it as a waste product? It's correct, but metal did get oxidized abyway before that. Don't expect to time travel and see bunchs of metalic Sodium. I'm only 99% sure thre was neither metalic Iron. Anyway, I googled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_iron_formation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_iron_formation The idea is that the water alewady had oxidized iron(2+) and some bacterias oxidized it to iron(3+) that is no so soluble and then you got deposits of mixed iron(3+), iron(2+) and oxygen (2-).
loufe 2y ago
Apologies, forgot to paste it when submitting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine There are some known techniques to deoxidize iron from the medieval and renaissance periods, and they take a lot of work (and even more wood). Here's an EXCELLENT write-up for anyone curious, https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-i-mining/ https://acoup.blog/2020/09/18/collections-iron-how-did-they-...
- gus_massa 2y ago
  From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_River_Mine > with its four massive iron ore deposits of 65-70% pure iron ore From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_ore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_ore > 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 rusty red. The iron is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe_3O_4, 72.4% Fe), hematite (Fe_2O_3, 69.9% Fe), goethite (FeO(OH), 62.9% Fe), limonite (FeO(OH)·n(H_2O), 55% Fe), or siderite (FeCO_3, 48.2% Fe). > *There are some known techniques to deoxidize iron from the medieval and renaissance periods, [...]. I agree. To deoxidize iron you must heat it to a few thousand degrees and mix it with coal, so the carbon in the coal steals the oxygens in the ore and you get metalic iron. (I'm oversimplifiying, and ignoring a lot of details that I don't even know.) It's not easy and not cheap.

meind54 2y ago

The most pure type of iron ore is magnetite (Fe3O4). Magnetite contains the highest iron content among the common iron ore types, with approximately 72.4% iron content. It's still an oxide that requires extraction though...

meindnoch 2y ago

Iron ore is iron oxide, not elemental iron. Elemental iron on Earth is extremely rare due to the oxidizing atmosphere. It is found either in meteorites, or so called telluric iron deposits (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluric_iron https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluric_iron), which is only found on Greenland, and was produced by iron ore getting accidentally smelted by magmatic processes.

loufe 2y ago
Yes, but the 60%-70% I mention is explicitly Fe content, and not the magnetite/hematite content. Around page 165 in the NI-43-101 they have some details: https://www.miningdataonline.com/reports/MaryRiver_Technical_012011.pdf https://www.miningdataonline.com/reports/MaryRiver_Technical...
- meindnoch 2y ago
  The deposit contains 60-70% of iron atoms, in various iron oxides, silicates, oxides, carbonates, etc. It's not elemental iron. It has to be smelted to get elemental iron. That's like saying seawater has 12.5% hydrogen. Technically true, but you need an awful lot of work to get that hydrogen into elemental form.