Iron ore became a global commodity after the Second World War, and with the end of the embargo against exporting iron ore from Australia in 1960, the Hamersley Range became a major mining district. The banded iron formations here are the thickest and most extensive in the world, originally covering an area of and containing about 300 trillion metric tons of iron. The range contains 80 percent of all identified iron ore reserves in Australia. Over 100 million metric tons of iron ore is removed from the range every year.