Iron ore is a metal more suitable for making tools than copper, possessing excellent hardness and toughness, unlike copper artifacts which are prone to breaking.
When Jiang Xuan was in the Northern South Wilderness, he had also spent time looking for iron ore but failed to find quality iron deposits. The copper and tin reserves were quite abundant, but the iron mines were awfully scarce, with extremely low iron content.
For instance, the most common iron bacteria can be found next to streams, rivers, lakes, and other water bodies, but the iron content of these things is very low. After painstakingly collecting a large amount, you might not even forge a single knife.
However, premium iron ore, such as the piece Jiang Xuan holds, has an iron content of over seventy percent. It's a natural iron mass that can be directly taken for smelting and forging steel tools.
