Iron Ore is the bread and butter of Skyrim smithing. Worth a measly 2 gold per chunk, it is not going to make you rich, but one piece in the smelter gives you an 
Iron Ingot, and one piece plus one 
Corundum Ore gives you a 
Steel Ingot. That makes it the foundation of Iron Armor, Steel Armor and a huge share of every early-game build. With 636 veins and deposits in the game data, you will trip over it constantly.
How to get it
Grab a pickaxe and head underground. On Solstheim, Raven Rock Mine is the richest single spot with 23 veins, while in Skyrim proper Halted Stream Camp (17 veins) is a classic early stop, conveniently full of bandits who were mining it for you. Fort Fellhammer Mines has 10 veins, Embershard Mine near Riverwood has 8, and Iron-Breaker Mine and Gloombound Mine have 6 each. Plenty more veins are scattered outdoors along cliffs and coastlines.
Loose ore is lying around too: 10 pieces in Fort Fellhammer Mines, 8 in Baldor Iron-Shaper’s house in the Skaal Village, 7 at Faldar’s Tooth and 4 in Left Hand Mine. If you hate mining, blacksmiths and general goods merchants such as Adrianne Avenicci, Alvor, Balimund and Belethor stock it. Bandits, peddlers and Falmer sometimes carry a few chunks as well.
Smelting and tanning
- 1 Iron Ore → 1 Iron Ingot at the smelter
- 1 Corundum Ore + 1 Iron Ore → 1 Steel Ingot at the smelter
Used to craft
Iron Ore appears in 2 recipes in the game files.
Weapons and other items
- smelter: Steel Ingot (1), Iron Ingot (1)
The number in brackets is how many Iron Ore each recipe needs. Bold labels are the Smithing perk the recipe requires.
Good to know
- Iron Ingots plus
Leather Strips make Iron Daggers, the classic cheap way to grind Smithing levels. - Cast Transmute Mineral Ore to turn Iron Ore into
Silver Ore, and Silver Ore into 
Gold Ore.
Data from the Skyrim game files (Skyrim.esm and the official add-ons): value, weight, ore veins, recipes and merchant lists. ID 00071CF3 is the item’s form ID for the console.
