Iron Ore

This article has not been revised for the current version (***U50-587362***). It was last updated for *LU-356355*. It may contain inaccuracies.
This article has not been revised for the current version (***U50-587362***). It was last updated for *LU-356355*. It may contain inaccuracies.

## Iron Ore

(Fe) Iron Ore is a soft Metal.
It is suitable for building Power systems.

### Properties

 Ore, Generic Buildable, Solid, Metal Ore

**Iron Ore** is a Metal Ore found in abundance in the Caustic Biome and Oil Biome. It is used as a construction material and can be refined into pure Iron.

## Usage

Iron Ore shares many properties with other metal ores, but lacks a defining feature that provides it an edge, such as the decor bonus on Copper Ore or the thermal overheat bonus of Gold Amalgam. It is, however, by far the most abundant metal found, coming in small to massive nodes in the Caustic biome and modest nodes in the oil biome. It also has a higher melting point than any of the metal others except Wolframite. This is, however, rarely useful, as environmental temperature is nearly always limited by building overheat temperature rather than melting point, and in cases where melting point matters (such as working with the output of normal or metal volcanoes, or near rocket exhaust), Wolframite and Tungsten will usually be preferred.

Its large abundance and use as the precursor material for refined Iron, which itself is a component in the production of valuable Steel, are its primary defining features. While it is superseded by other ores in specific applications, the limited supplies of these other ores make the use of iron ore a practical decision.

Metal Refinery can produce Iron from Iron Ore in 1:1 ratio. 100 kg Iron Ore = 100 kg Iron. This requires Duplicant operation.

Rock Crusher can produce Iron from Iron Ore too. This is not recommended due to lower efficiency of 50%. 100 kg Iron Ore = 50 kg Iron + 50 kg Sand. This requires Duplicant operation.

Stone Hatches can eat Iron Ore and excrete Coal. It will increase the chance of laying Smooth Hatch eggs.

Smooth Hatches can eat Iron Ore and excrete Iron with 75% mass. This can be a good middle option between the inefficient Stone Crusher and the relatively complexity of a Metal Refinery setup, as Smooth Hatches do not require a dedicated cooling system, provision of coolant and handling of the hot coolant output, or nearly as much duplicant labor, and provide a rather substantial amount of Meat (and thus Barbeque) as an additional benefit. However, that comes at the cost of a 25% reduction in conversion efficiency versus a Metal Refinery. In addition, a single Smooth Hatch will process only 100 kg of Iron Ore per day, with a maximum of 8 per maximum-sized ranch, meaning a single Metal Refinery can process nearly as much Iron Ore per day as two full-capacity Smooth Hatch ranches if run full-time, and that's before any production speed bonuses from the operating Duplicant's Machinery attribute.

Shove Voles can eat Iron Ore debris and excrete 50% of that mass as a solid tile of Iron Ore (which then loses another 50% mass when mined). This provides no benefits over feeding the Shove Vole a more plentiful and less useful material such as Regolith, so needless to say, it is not recommended to feed Iron Ore to your Shove Voles.

## Production

Rust Deoxidizer can produce Oxygen, Chlorine, Iron Ore with Rust and Salt. 750 g/s Rust + 250 g/s Salt = 570 g/s Oxygen + 30 g/s Chlorine + 400 g/s Iron Ore.

 It can be harvested on rocket missions to renewable Space POIs:

* In Space Debris at a rate of 90 – 270 kg per cycle.

## See also

* Iron
* Resources

## History

* **RU-284571**: Can now be obtained from the Rocky Asteroid.