Iron ore

This article is a stub. You can help Marspedia by expanding it.

Iron ores are minerals which contain large enough fractions of iron for it to be economically extracted. On Earth, this typically means iron oxide formations with between 20% and 60% iron by mass.

Hematite is common on Mars, and is responsible for the planet's red colour. However, the purity may not be high and so any Martian colonists may have difficulty producing quality metal (at least initially).