Iron ore is an important raw material for iron and steel production enterprises. Natural ore (iron ore) is gradually separated by crushing, grinding, magnetic separation, flotation, gravity separation and other processes. Iron ore is a mineral aggregate, which contains simple iron or iron compounds and can be used economically. Any ore containing economically available iron is called iron ore. There are many kinds of iron ores, among which magnetite (Fe3O4) and hematite are mainly used for ironmaking.

World iron ore resources are concentrated in Australia, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, India, the United States, Canada, South Africa and other countries. As the world's largest iron ore demander, China's own iron ore reserves are not small, but its grade is relatively low. From the perspective of industrial economy, it is best to import from countries rich in iron ore such as Australia and Brazil.

Iron ore that can be directly put into steelmaking furnace is called "open hearth rich ore" and iron ore that can be directly used for ironmaking is called "blast furnace rich ore", both of which have the word "rich". These rich minerals are preferably magnetite and hematite, and their iron content is above 70%.

Lean ore, or iron ore with more harmful impurities, needs to be beneficiated first, and the cost goes up at once. The classification of iron ore is very complicated, which can be classified according to the main components, harmful impurities, structural morphology and gangue types. Every angle can be divided into many kinds, which one to choose in industry and what kind of technological process to correspond to are all great knowledge. University of Science and Technology Beijing, Central South University, Northeastern University and Anhui University of Technology are all committed to the research in the field of steel.