Siderite

Siderite is a mineral composed of iron(II) carbonate (FeCO₃). Its name comes from the Ancient Greek word Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Grc-transl), meaning "iron". A valuable iron ore, it consists of 48% iron and lacks sulfur and phosphorus. Zinc, magnesium, and manganese commonly substitute for the iron, resulting in the siderite-smithsonite, siderite-magnesite, and siderite-rhodochrosite solid solution series.<ref name=Mindat/>

Siderite has Mohs hardness of 3.75 to 4.25, a specific gravity of 3.96, a white streak and a vitreous or pearly luster. Siderite is antiferromagnetic below its Néel temperature of Template:Cvt that can assist in its identification.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

It crystallizes in the trigonal crystal system; crystals are rhombohedral in shape, typically with curved and striated faces. It also occurs in masses. Color ranges from yellow to dark brown or black, the latter being due to the presence of manganese.

Siderite is commonly found in hydrothermal veins, and is associated with barite, fluorite, galena, and others. It is also a common diagenetic mineral in shales and sandstones, where it sometimes forms concretions, which can encase three-dimensionally preserved fossils.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In sedimentary rocks, siderite commonly forms at shallow burial depths and its elemental composition is often related to the depositional environment of the enclosing sediments.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In addition, a number of recent studies have used the oxygen isotopic composition of sphaerosiderite (a type associated with soils) as a proxy for the isotopic composition of meteoric water shortly after deposition.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Evidence of the presence of siderite on Mars is being interpreted as a possible indicator of the presence of abundant water early in the climate history of that planet.<ref>Janice Bishop and M. Lane, Catching a glimpse of ancient Mars, Science, Vol. 388, April 18, 2025, p. 251. doi: 10.1126/science.adw4889 </ref><ref>Benjamin Tutolo et al., Carbonates identified by the Curiosity rover indicate a carbon cycle operated on ancient Mars, Science, Vol. 388, April 18, 2025, p. 292. doi: 10.1126/science.ado9966 </ref><ref>Grossman, Lisa, A NASA rover finally found Mars’ missing carbon: The finding could help explain why Mars lost its habitable climate, Science News, April 17, 2025 </ref>

Carbonate iron ore

Although carbonate iron ores, such as siderite, have been economically important for steel production, they are far from ideal as an ore.

Their hydrothermal mineralisation tends to form them as small ore lenses, often following steeply dipping bedding planes.Template:Efn-lr This keeps them from being amenable to opencast working, and increases the cost of working them by mining with horizontal stopes.Template:Sfnp As the individual ore bodies are small, it may also be necessary to duplicate or relocate the pit head machinery, winding engine, and pumping engine, between these bodies as each is worked out. This makes mining the ore an expensive proposition compared to typical ironstone or haematite opencasts.Template:Efn-lr

The recovered ore also has drawbacks. The carbonate ore is more difficult to smelt than a haematite or other oxide ore. Driving off the carbonate as carbon dioxide requires more energy and so the ore 'kills' the blast furnace if added directly. Instead the ore must be given a preliminary roasting step. Developments of specific techniques to deal with these ores began in the early nineteenth century, largely with the work of Sir Thomas Lethbridge in Somerset.<ref name="Jones, 17" /> His 'Iron Mill' of 1838 used a three-chambered concentric roasting furnace, before passing the ore to a separate reducing furnace for smelting. Details of this mill were the invention of Charles Sanderson, a steel maker of Sheffield, who held the patent for it.<ref>Template:Cite patent</ref>

These differences between spathic ore and haematite have led to the failure of a number of mining concerns, notably the Brendon Hills Iron Ore Company.Template:Sfnp

Spathic iron ores are rich in manganese and have negligible phosphorus. This led to their one major benefit, connected with the Bessemer steel-making process. Although the first demonstrations by Bessemer in 1856 were successful, initial attempts by others to replicate his method infamously failed to produce good steel.Template:Sfnp Work by the metallurgist Robert Forester Mushet showed that the reason for the discrepancy was the nature of the Swedish ores that Bessemer had innocently used; they were very low in phosphorus. Using a typical European high-phosphorus ore in Bessemer's converter gave a poor quality steel. To produce high quality steel from a high-phosphorus ore, Mushet realised that he could operate the Bessemer converter for longer, burning off all the steel's impurities including the unwanted phosphorus, but also the carbon (which is an essential ingredient in steel), and then re-adding carbon, along with manganese, in the form of a previously obscure ferromanganese ore with no phosphorus, spiegeleisen.Template:Sfnp This created a sudden demand for spiegeleisen. Although it was not available in sufficient quantity as a mineral, steelworks such as that at Ebbw Vale in South Wales soon learned to make it from the spathic siderite ores.Template:Sfnp For a few decades, spathic ores were therefore in demand and this encouraged their mining. In time though, the original 'acidic' liner of the Bessemer converter, made from siliceous sandstone or ganister, was replaced by a 'basic' liner in the newer Gilchrist Thomas process. This removed the phosphorus impurities as slag produced by chemical reaction with the liner, and no longer required spiegeleisen. From the 1880s, demand for the ores fell once again and many of their mines, including those of the Brendon Hills, closed soon after.

Gallery

• Siderite late 1800s Redruth.jpg

  Siderite from Redruth, Cornwall, England

• Galena-Quartz-Siderite-oldeuro-56c.jpg

  Siderite crystals with galena and quartz. Size: Template:Cvt

• Chalcopyrite-Siderite-gha7a.jpg

  Disc-shaped, brown siderite crystals perched upon chalcopyrites

• SideriteTaillée.jpg

  Cut siderite from Minas Gerais, Brazil. Size: Template:Cvt

• Siderite-64328.jpg

  Colorado siderite, with sharp blades of olive-brown and minor accenting quartz

• Siderite Concretion Carboniferous.JPG

  Fossiliferous siderite concretion from the Lower Carboniferous