Iron Iron in its pure state is soft, malleable and ductile (that can be stretched, drawn or hammered thin without breaking ((Webster's Dictionary, 419, 1988)) with a hardness of 4-5. It is easily magnetized at room temperatures and this property disappears when heated above 790 degrees Celsius.. Metal iron occurs in a free state in only a few localities, notably Greenland (Encarta, 1996). One of the physical properties of iron as an ore is its color which can be black, brown or even reddish. Hematite is the most important iron ore, commonly occurs as "kidney ore" - so -called because of its shape (Symes, 1988, 56). Other ores included goethite, magnetite, siderite, and bog iron