I believe you can mix, but would they? Steel mills add all sorts...

I believe you can mix, but would they?

Steel mills add all sorts of inputs to get the right mix for each batch from the sophisticated control room. But with DRI, the gange or slag is baked into the sponge iron so you need as little as possible to get a decent EAF suitable feed product plus magnetite requires less energy to do so as hematite has to be converted to magnetite as part of the process. And that takes energy and expense and the difference in using 70% supergrade vs inferior iron ore is huge so it will always be sought after as the premium for it is less than the overall savings in energy, waste, Co2 emmissions etc.

So I agree, selling it as spot for DRI feedstock is the easiest path however the likes of FMG have huge and increasing problems getting takers for their 58% output, suffering large and ever growing discounts to 62% base reference price. The market is growing for 70% magnetite but shrinking for lower grade hematite and the divergence between the two is growing wider. The pressure is on for companies with low grade ore to find a solution.....