An interesting post and the bits about Rio Tinto increasing production are certainly worth a closer look.
As far as magnetite is concerned though, the fact is that the mineral magnetite actually contains more iron than haematite. Certainly steelmakers prefer haematite but magnetite is routinely oxidixed to haematite and the reaction is exothermic. A well designed plant needs very little energy for the conversion. The pelletised product sells at a premium.
My interest in the process coincides with my holdings of VMS which is drilling up a potential resource of 100Mt in Tasmania. The mineralisation has high tin values as a bonus and the deposit is as they say "close to infrastructure".
The difference is however that this infrastructure belongs to the nearby Savage River mine and includes a slurry pipeline to Port Latta and an iron pelletising plant. Currently the infrastructure is underutilised as ore supplies at Savage River run down.
