Today we look at iron ore, as a sort of hat tip to the anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter, the Edmund Fitzgerald, thirty-five years ago today. The Fitzgerald was carrying iron ore pellets.

The Bureau of the Census definition of iron ore mining reads as follows: “This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in (1) developing mine sites, mining, and/or beneficiating (i.e., preparing) iron ores and manganiferous ores valued chiefly for their iron content and/or (2) producing sinter iron ore (except iron ore produced in iron and steel mills) and other iron ore agglomerates.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2007
Market size: $2.96 trillion (value of primary product shipments)
Source: “2007 Economic Census: Sector 21: Mining: Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the United States 2007 and 2002”, October 16, 2009, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census