Iron ore

Iron ore is the raw mineral item used as the basic input for producing iron plate and many mid-tier products in Factorio. In the base game on Nauvis it appears in ore patches that are mined with electric mining drills and collected as an item for smelting into iron plates. The Space Age expansion introduces additional ways to obtain iron ore depending on the surface or environment.

On space platforms, metallic asteroid chunks gathered with asteroid collectors are processed in crushers to produce iron ore. On Gleba, iron ore is produced from iron bacteria by allowing them to spoil; iron bacteria are cultivated in biochambers, initially grown from jelly and sustained with bioflux to yield spoilage products that convert into iron ore. On Vulcanus, iron ore can be obtained from rocks on the planet surface; most iron-based products on Vulcanus are produced in foundries from molten iron extracted from inexhaustible lava using calcite as an intermediary. On Fulgora, iron ore is obtainable by recycling concrete, which itself is obtained by recycling scrap; iron ore has limited use on Fulgora because iron plates, steel plates and concrete can also be recovered via scrap recycling. Iron ore is not available on Aquilo; iron and iron products must be imported to Aquilo surfaces.

Practical notes on use and logistics:

• Iron ore is smelted into iron plates in furnaces and is a core input for a large portion of the production chain, including gears, inserters, rails, and many intermediate and advanced components.
• In the base game, plan mining layouts to match the decreasing patch richness and to feed high-throughput furnace arrays; use trains or belts depending on distance and volume.
• On space platforms, set up asteroid collectors and crushers to convert asteroid chunks into a steady iron ore supply; crushers require power and belt logistics to feed smelters.
• On biosurfaces like Gleba, establish stable biochamber farms with continuous jelly and bioflux inputs to maintain iron bacteria production; plan for the spoilage-to-ore processing step in your logistics.
• On volcanic surfaces such as Vulcanus, use foundries and lava extraction setups to produce molten iron and downstream iron products, reducing reliance on conventional smelting chains.
• On Fulgora, integrate recycling chains to convert scrap and concrete back into iron ore and other materials rather than trying to reproduce conventional iron mining.
• When iron ore is unavailable (for example on Aquilo), plan imports via trains, rockets, or logistic ships early to avoid production bottlenecks.

Iron ore remains a foundational item for manufacturing and factory scaling; adapting acquisition methods to the local environment introduced by the Space Age expansion is essential for maintaining continuous production.