What are the quality standards for iron ore products?

April 8th, 2026

Iron ore products refer to the general term for iron-containing raw materials used in iron and steel smelting, including steelmaking lump ore, blast furnace ironmaking lump ore, sintering lump ore powder, iron concentrate, blast furnace pellets, and direct reduction pellets. China’s iron ore product standards are shown in the table . Tables 4-4 to 4-8.

Table 4-4 Iron Ore Standards for Steelmaking (Draft) Unit: %

Taste class	change study become point
Taste class	Fe≥	SiO₂ ≤	S≤	P≤	Cu≤	Sn≤	As≤
Premium grade	68	4	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Grade A	64	8	0.1	0.1
Grade II	60	11	0.1	0.1
Grade III	57	12	0.15	0.15
Grade IV	55	13	0.2	0.2
Grade IV	50	10	0.2	0.2
Particle size requirements	Particle size range: 10–250 mm ; maximum particle size: not exceeding 300 mm .The ore size for open-hearth steelmaking is 50–250 mm ; for electric arc furnace steelmaking, it is 50–100 mm ; and for converter steelmaking, it is 10–50 mm. For these particle sizes, both the upper and lower limits must not exceed 10%.

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Table 4-5 Standards for Iron Ore Used in Blast Furnace Ironmaking (Draft)

Taste class			Grade A	Grade II	Grade III	Grade IV
Chemical composition/%	Particle size TFe ≥ ( mm )		58	55	50	45
	SiO₂ ≤		12	14	17	18
	S	Class I, ≤	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
		Class II, ≤	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
		Class III, ≤	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
	P	Class I, ≤	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
		Class II, ≤	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
		Class III, ≤	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9
	Cu≤		0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
	Pb≤		0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
	Zn≤		0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
	Sn≤		0.08	0.08	0.08	0.08
	As≤		0.07	0.07	0.07	0.07
	K₂O + Na₂O ≤		0.2～0.5		0.2～0.5	0.2～0.5
Require	Particle size of block A is 10-40mm; particles larger than 40mm shall not exceed 10%, and particles smaller than 10mm shall not exceed 10%. Particle size B is 8-30mm; particles >30mm shall not exceed 10%, and particles <8mm shall not exceed 10%.

Table 4-6 Standard for Iron Ore Powder for Sintering (Draft)

level		Grade A	Grade II	Grade III	Grade IV
Chemical composition/%	TFe≥	54	50	48	45
	SiO₂ ≤	12	15	18	twenty two
	S≤	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.5
	P≤	0.1	0.15	0.2	0.3
	Cu<	0.2
	Pb<	0.1
	Zn<	0.1
	Sn<	0.08
	As<	0.07
Require	Magnetite and hematite particle sizes should be 0–10 mm; particles larger than 10 mm should not exceed 10%. High-sulfur ore particle size: 0–8 mm; >8 mm particle size: not exceeding 5%.The particle size of limonite should be 0–10 mm, and particles larger than 10 mm should not exceed 5%.