What are the impacts of iron mining?
Iron ore is mined from huge open cast mines in various parts of the world such as Brazil (Carajas and Corumba), Australia (Hammersley Basin), Sweden (Kiruna) and West Africa (Simandou) – in the case of Kuruna, it is underground mining. Because of the very large tonnages involved, it is optimal for the mine to be located as close to a large port as possible from where it can be loaded onto big ships and taken to China. In the case of Corumba, the mine is very distant from the sea; however, bareges are able to transport the ore down the river Paraguay to a terminal in Uruguay where it is transferred onto large ships. Where the mine is located some distance from the sea, it is normal to build a railway line to transport the ore at very high initial cost. Iron ore normally consists of magnetite (Fe3O4) or Hematite (Fe2O3). Though the mineral hematite contains slightly less iron content, it is preferred by smelters. Magnetite belongs to the spinel group of minerals which always pose a probl
