ore
n. C / Un. rock or earth that contains enough metal to be worth digging up. People melt it down to get materials like iron, gold, or copper.
n. a naturally occurring solid material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably extracted. Usually refers to the raw mineral aggregate before any refining or smelting processes occur.
The miners found a rich vein of iron ore in the mountain.
The factory processes thousands of tons of raw ore every day to produce pure aluminum.
Geological surveys indicate that the region contains significant deposits of high-grade copper ore, though the environmental costs of extraction remain a subject of intense local debate.
Uncountable when referring to the material in bulk; countable when referring to specific types or geological varieties.