Geologists Discover Largest Iron Ore Deposit in Australia Worth $5.7 Trillion

Geologists have uncovered a colossal iron ore deposit in Western Australia’s Hamersley region, estimated at 55 billion metric tons and valued at more than $5.7 trillion, Arezki Amiri reported for The Daily Galaxy.

Located in the Pilbara Craton, the ore averages over 60% iron content, up from an initial 30%, and far exceeds typical high-grade deposits.

The find, described as the largest single iron ore deposit ever recorded, could reshape both global mining markets and scientific understanding of Earth’s geologic past.

A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) links the ore body’s origin to the breakup of the Columbia supercontinent about 1.4 billion years ago — nearly a billion years later than previously believed.

Located in the Pilbara Craton, the ore averages over 60% iron content, up from an initial 30%, and far exceeds typical high-grade deposits.

Scientists from the University of Colorado and the University of Western Australia used uranium–lead dating of iron oxides to revise long-standing theories that tied banded iron formations to the Great Oxidation Event, 2.2–2.0 billion years ago.

Lead author Liam Courtney-Davies said the results point instead to tectonic collisions and hydrothermal processes during supercontinent reassembly, which rapidly concentrated iron in marine basins.

The discovery cements Australia’s dominance in global iron exports and forces a rethinking of how Earth’s richest mineral deposits form.