Story: Iron and steel Page 1 – Iron – an abundant resource Iron,
especially in the form of steel, is the dominant metal used in
all modern societies and a key factor in their industrial
development. It is the fourth most abundant element in the
earth’s crust and, after aluminium, the second most abundant
metal. Most of these metals are smelted from naturally occurring
material known as ore. Iron is extracted from iron ores,
commonly found in rock. The main purpose for extracting iron is
to make steel. New Zealand has only a small amount of one
frequently used iron ore – limonite, which is found at Onekakā
in north-west Nelson. However, it does have another, unique
source of iron: beach sand composed of a type of iron oxide
called titanomagnetite. The North Island ironsands During his
first voyage around New Zealand in 1769–70, Captain James Cook
recorded ‘a black sandy bottom’ in his journal, as the Endeavour
sailed southward along the coast near Raglan. In 1839 Ernst
Dieffenbach, hired by the New Zealand Com