What the iron figure gives you
- The share of iron in the portion that was tested.
- A starting point for gauging which band the cargo sits in.
- A field that can be compared — once the method behind it is the same.
Grade — Mid-Range Iron Ore
60% Fe iron ore
A 60% Fe cargo is judged by where it lands inside the blend window your plant actually runs — not by the figure on the assay line. Two offers stating the same iron content can carry different amounts of useful iron per delivered tonne once moisture, basis and gangue are accounted for.
This page is built to place an offer against your window and your contract basis, so a mid-range figure is assessed on what it delivers rather than on how it sounds. A 60% Fe figure is a nominal assay, not a description of how a cargo behaves in a blend. Two lots stating the same iron content can differ in moisture basis, gangue composition, sizing and sampling, and can therefore carry different concentrations of useful iron per tonne delivered. Compare offers on the basis the contract is written on, not on the headline number alone.
Price on request. No assay, price, freight or blend result is asserted on this page.
The figure is nominal; the basis is not
The iron figure tells you what share of a tested portion was iron. It does not tell you whether the tonne is wet or dry, which gangue components travel with it, how it is sized, or how it will behave where you intend to run it. Those are separate fields, and each one can move the comparison.
What a 60% figure establishes
One field of many, and not the one that decides the blend
An assay figure answers a single question. The rest of the comparison lives in fields that are reported separately — or not at all.
What it leaves to other fields
- Whether the tonne is quoted wet or dry, and on what moisture basis.
- Which gangue components travel with the iron, and in what ratio to each other.
- How the material is sized, and which route it can enter.
- How it behaves in a blend — which no single lot's certificate answers.
The practical consequence: a 60% figure is not interchangeable with a 58% or 62% figure, and a higher figure is not automatically better or more valuable. Substitution is a question about your window and your contract basis — the headline number alone cannot settle it either way.
Blend envelope worksheet
Place an offer inside your window, then compare on contained iron
State the range your plant accepts, then enter two offers. The worksheet shows where each sits against your window, and — only where both state a mass basis — their cost per unit of contained iron on a common footing. Nothing is supplied by the page; every figure is yours.
Nothing is pre-filled. Results appear only where the figures entered are sufficient to compute them.
Nothing entered yet
No reading is shown because nothing has been stated. Start with your blend window, then the offers you want measured against it.
Method and limits
- No price, freight figure, assay, moisture or blend result is supplied or defaulted here.
- Cost per unit of iron compares figures on a stated basis. It does not judge whether a cargo suits any process.
- Nothing entered is stored or transmitted until you choose to send it.
Fit and alternatives
When a mid-range band fits, and when the decision is elsewhere
A band step is only one kind of substitution. Where the form or the preparation state is what your process constrains, the grade question is the wrong one to be asking.
Neighbouring bands
These sit either side of this one. Each is a different purchase with its own basis — not an equivalent at a different number.
58% Fe
The adjacent band below. Whether it is a substitute depends on your window, not on the gap in the headline figure.
Compare62% Fe
The adjacent band above, and the one most often treated as interchangeable with this one. It is not, without the basis stated.
Compare63.5% Fe
A higher band again, where the commercial basis usually shifts rather than just the number.
Compare65% Fe
A high-grade band, generally bought against a tighter window and stricter impurity limits.
Compare66% Fe concentrate
Not a like-for-like band step: this is a beneficiated product, so the yield and mass basis change the purchase entirely.
CompareProduct form
Where the form the material arrives in, rather than its iron figure, is what your process constrains.
Fines
Fine material blended or fed to sintering, where the blend chemistry carries more weight than any one offer's grade.
OpenConcentrate
Beneficiation has already reduced the gangue, which changes the mass balance and the commercial basis.
OpenLumps
Coarse material charged directly rather than agglomerated first.
OpenTechnical references
Where the question is how a figure is established rather than which band it falls in.
Procurement navigator
Where the cargo is going
The delivery place and the term that reaches it change the documents and the handling. Open the market you are actually shipping into.
United Arab Emirates
A mid-grade cargo landing at Jebel Ali or Khalifa Port needs the delivery place named before the Incoterm means anything. Say whether the receiving plant or the trader takes the customs entry.
Plan a deliverySaudi Arabia
Consignments into Dammam or Jeddah usually move on to an inland industrial city, so the quotation has to reach the inland place. Say whether the rail or road leg sits inside your requirement.
Plan a deliveryBahrain
Khalifa Bin Salman Port deliveries often connect to a mainland consumer, so the delivery place may not be the port itself. Name the final place and the term that reaches it.
Plan a deliveryKuwait
Shuwaikh and Shuaiba movements are short-sea legs, so the loading form affects handling more than the voyage. State whether the requirement is containerised or breakbulk.
Plan a deliveryOman
Sohar and Duqm consignments sit close to industrial zones where the receiving site may take delivery directly. State the port or zone and the delivery term that reaches it.
Plan a deliveryQatar
Hamad Port consignments are usually cleared against an agreed document set. Name the consignee and whether the assay and moisture documents are needed before discharge rather than after.
Plan a delivery
Buyer FAQ
Questions that come up when mid-grade offers are compared
These are the points blend planners raise when two offers at similar figures are on the table and the paperwork is not written the same way.
Is a 60% Fe cargo interchangeable with a 58% or 62% cargo?
No, and the headline figure is the wrong field to judge it on. Offers differ in the analytical method behind the figure, the mass basis the moisture is quoted on, which gangue components are reported and whether they are reported separately, the sizing, and the sampling standard behind the certificate. Two lots at different nominal figures can still be closer to each other in delivered useful iron than two lots at the same figure. Substitution is a question about your blend window, not about the number.
Does a higher Fe figure always mean a better or more valuable cargo?
No. Value depends on what the cargo does in the blend you are actually running, and on what you pay per unit of useful iron delivered. A higher iron figure carried with a high moisture content, an inconvenient sizing, or unfavourable gangue can be worth less to a particular plant than a lower-figure lot that suits the window. That is why the comparison belongs on a common basis rather than on the assay line.
Why does the moisture basis change the comparison so much?
Because the price you pay is usually quoted per tonne of material, while the iron you receive is a share of what is inside it. If one offer is quoted per wet tonne and another per dry tonne, the same headline price buys different amounts of iron, and at bulk volume the gap is material. Before two offers can be placed side by side, both need to state whether the tonne is wet or dry — and the moisture figure needs to be on the same footing as the iron figure.
What should a 60% Fe enquiry state to be answerable?
The blend window the plant actually runs, including the range it accepts and whether each edge is inclusive; the basis the contract will be written on for iron and for moisture; which gangue components your process constrains and at what level; the sizing and the route the material enters; the sampling and preparation standard behind any certificate; and the quantity, schedule, delivery destination and shipment terms. Stating the window matters more than stating a preferred grade, because it is the window the offer is judged against.
What does cost per unit of contained iron tell me that the Fe figure does not?
It puts offers on a comparable footing by dividing the price you would pay by the iron you would actually receive, once moisture and basis are accounted for. It does not settle the purchase on its own — gangue, sizing and blend fit still decide whether a cargo can run — but it stops a higher assay from looking automatically cheaper when it is not. Neither figure tells you anything about blend performance, which only testing against your own circuit establishes.
Qualified enquiry
Send the window and the basis, not just a grade
Attach the blend envelope record or state the fields directly. The commercial desk responds against the window and basis you set, so what is missing is visible on both sides.
Send this requirement
Attach the blend envelope record or state the fields directly. Nothing is pre-filled.