| The powdered ore is mixed with water to form a slurry to help separate the desired iron from the remaining waste rock. In the photos at the right and below the less dense waste rock floats off the top while the more dense iron containing ore remains. A special detergent is then added to further help purify the iron ore. | |
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| When the waste rock is removed the iron ore is mixed with a type of clay and put into large rotating drums where small ball type of pellets are formed. The pellets need to be of a uniform size before they can be used in the steel mills so they are sent through a series of rollers that have increasing size gaps. The correct size pellets fall through the correct spaces in the rollers and all the rest of the pellets are broken up and sent through the drum the be reprocessed again. |  |
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