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USA iron ore?

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Mud

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ducksface said:
What's the situation like over in Australia now that the mines are cutting so far back?
I know the popular speculative stories and a bit deeper, but I'd like to hear a local tell it.
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Not good i'm sorry to say mate, I was over west working rail a few years back and there was plenty of money changing hands then. We are now talking thousands out of work in the mining industry and other losses by way of the car industry shutting down in Aus. Sad state of affairs.
 
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Mud

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A_Pmech said:
All the steel mines are in China.
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Don't believe so mate, the Chinese have been stock-piling Australian ore for years. They have massive underwater dumping zones and have used our ore extensively over the years as their own supply does not fit the bill and is not what we want.
 
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Kirbot

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There's iron ore all over south Jersey...
Even some in my yard.

I have no idea if it's ever still mined or not. There used to be a mess of charcoal furnaces 2 hundred years ago, but most of them died out when coal furnaces started popping up in PA.

You still see old wood stoves and things like that around marked with places like Batso, mined and cast in NJ.
 
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Mud

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Kirbot said:
There's iron ore all over south Jersey...
Even some in my yard.

I have no idea if it's ever still mined or not. There used to be a mess of charcoal furnaces 2 hundred years ago, but most of them died out when coal furnaces started popping up in PA.

You still see old wood stoves and things like that around marked with places like Batso, mined and cast in NJ.
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Intersting mate, sounds like New Castle over this way, a big coal producer and you can kick the lumps of coal in the fields.
 
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Mud

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ducksface said:
Just in case your news filters the facts before serving, China has cut back on their use of your iron ore to practically nil, maybe forever.

I hear that some towns are offering $1,000,000 homes for $40,000 with no takers and that rentals are down from $1200 a week to no one there to rent them at all, at any price.
When that happened decades ago to oil, you could buy custom pick ups and outrageous work truck for for 90% off.

Are you deals on Harleys and toys over there yet?
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Sorry mate, I don't buy into the news. All I say is from experience. Thing are not so bad for some but the same can't be said for many. You guys are making money right, and you're buying Chinese tools, that being said you're buying a % Australian steel. The Chinese are getting big on the environment don't forget.
 
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Mud

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Loscaldazar said:
There was a point where Minnesota supplied 90% of the world's iron. Now that was like the early 1900's, but hey, still cool!
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Hey I think one of the old bridges here in Melbourne was built with wrought iron from Minnesota over 100 years ago. It's of riveted construction, heritage listed and was starting to crack. Welders had a real hard time back a few years resolving the problem.
 
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thewatusi

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I don't know when they started, but I know in the 70s until closure, Bethlehem Steel used iron ore imported from somewhere in South America.

The Reading Railroad and later Conrail would haul mile long trains of the stuff from docks in Philly, through my home town, and up to Bethlehem.
 
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Mud

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Zrexxer

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4xdog said:
The simple answer about where your iron ore comes from? 93% of the usable iron ore for products in the US cam from mines in Michigan and Minnesota in 2014.
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That's 93% of the United States' domestic ore production. Worldwide is a different story, you have to look at the second page of that USGS report. China and Australia are the two largest producers worldwide.
 
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Mud

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Zrexxer said:
That's 93% of the United States' domestic ore production. Worldwide is a different story, you have to look at the second page of that USGS report. China and Australia are the two largest producers worldwide.
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supply - reclaimation / population growth = ?
 
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4xdog

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Zrexxer said:
That's 93% of the United States' domestic ore production. Worldwide is a different story, you have to look at the second page of that USGS report. China and Australia are the two largest producers worldwide.
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Exactly right. Thanks for clarifying for everyone, especially with the op in Oz!

For more info about iron and steel scrap, the USGS Minerals Commodity Survey has a report on that, too.
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/iron_&_steel_scrap/mcs-2015-fescr.pdf
 
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