>>545901can't remember the exact cycle, but something along the lines of this:
Rain washes tiny amounts of iron from the ground, into lakes and/or rivers. Bacteria gathers the iron as a part of their life process, which forms these chunks on the bottom of riverbeds or lakes. There is also a way to know if there was such bacteria in the waters, as an oily film would form ontop of the water, giving it away.
>pic related, iron in the groundwater being washed out into a riverAnyways, these chunks are somewhat unpure iron if I remember correctly, which is why he burns it to burn off some of the impurity, and then it can be used.
As the other anon said, it was, indeed, a primare source of iron in the past.
One of these iron "harvests" can be done roughly once every generation, as the bacteria will just keep producing more.
look up "bog iron" for more info.
