Iron Ore & Pig Iron

Iron Ore

Magnetite (Fe3O4, 72.4% Fe)

Hematite (Fe2O3, 69.9% Fe)

Fed directly into iron-making blast furnaces.

Pig Iron

Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron,

An intermediate product obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace with a high-carbon fuel and reductant such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux.

Pig iron contains at least 92% Fe and has a very high carbon content, typically 3.5 – 4.5%

Pig iron is supplied in a variety of ingot sizes and weights, ranging from 3 kg up to more than 50 kg.

Merchant pig iron is produced by dedicated merchant plants & integrated steel mills

Types of merchant pig iron

1. Basic pig iron: used mainly in electric arc steelmaking

2. Foundry pig iron (also known as haematite pig iron): used mainly in the manufacture of grey iron castings in cupola furnaces

3. High purity pig iron (also known as nodular pig iron): used in the manufacture of ductile [also known as nodular or spheroidal graphite – SG] iron castings.

There are also various sub-types, for example low manganese basic pig iron, semi-nodular pig iron