Ore

Summary: A naturally occurring rock from which a metal can be economically extracted. Tags: igcse chemistry definition metals Created: 2026-07-14 Last Updated: 2026-07-14

An ore is a naturally occurring rock or mineral from which a metal or valuable substance can be economically extracted, containing the desired element in a sufficiently high concentration to make mining and processing commercially viable. Most ores consist of the metal combined with oxygen (as oxides, e.g., haematite Fe₂O₃, bauxite Al₂O₃) or with sulfur (as sulfides, e.g., zinc blende ZnS, galena PbS), though less reactive metals such as gold and silver may be found native, in their elemental form. The method used to extract the metal from its ore depends primarily on the metal’s position in the reactivity series: metals above carbon require electrolysis (e.g., aluminium from molten Al₂O₃), metals below carbon can be reduced by heating with coke (e.g., iron from Fe₂O₃ in the blast furnace), and metals at the very bottom need no chemical reduction at all. Ores are finite, non-renewable resources, and IGCSE questions frequently link ore extraction to environmental topics such as the energy costs of electrolysis, the carbon footprint of blast furnaces, and the importance of recycling metals to conserve ore reserves. Key extraction reactions — such as the thermite process (Fe₂O₃ + 2Al → 2Fe + Al₂O₃) and blast furnace reduction (Fe₂O₃ + 3CO → 2Fe + 3CO₂) — appear regularly on IGCSE papers.

Key term — IGCSE Chemistry (0620/0971) glossary.