Iran, World’s 10th Iron Ore Producer In 2012: USGS

Tehran, Feb 3, IRNA – The US Geological Survey (USGS) announced that Iran was the 10th world iron ore producer in 2012, extracting some 28 million tons of the strategic mineral in the said period. According to a report released Sunday by the Information Network for Iran Production and Trade (SHATA), the USGS also referred to Iran as the only country in the Middle East region which possessed the most iron ore reserves. The strategic mineral was significant source for Iran’s steel industry, the USGS stressed. According to the Virginia-based organization, China was the world’s biggest iron ore producer in 2012, extracting some 1.3 billion tons of the strategic mineral followed by Australia (525 million tons) and Brazil (375 million tons). It referred to other major world producers of iron ore in 2012 as India (fourth with 245 million tons), Russia (fifth with 100 million tons), Ukraine (sixth with 81 million tons), South Africa (seventh with 61 million tons), the US (eighth with 53 million tons) and Canada (ninth with 40 million tons). The total production of the strategic mineral was estimated by USGS at about three billion tons in 2012. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The motto of the USGS is ˈScience for a changing world.”/end