Global Iron Ore Production Data; Clarification of Reporting from USGS

This article documents the revision of world iron ore production totals and augments historical China iron ore production figures to show both crude and usable ore values. Its production can be reported as crude ore, usable ore or iron content of ore. Historically, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used reported crude ore production from China in tabulations of world iron ore production while other countries have typically reported their production in terms of usable iron ore. When China’s crude ore production was tabulated with usable ore production from other countries, world iron ore production totals have been overestimated by 10 percent to a high of
32 percent.