BEST Iron Mines In Skyrim [2023]

One of the most abundant ores, Iron ore, can be acquired at a few mines in Skyrim. These Mines are scattered at a few locations in the game. If you have just started learning Smithing, then knowing about these Iron Mines will surely make your game a lot easier as you won’t have to go out on yourself and look for all these mines. It will surely save you time too.

For your convenience, here’s a brief look at the Best Iron Mines from Skyrim:

Iron Mines	Hold	Clearable	Location
Halted Stream Camp Mine	Whiterun Hold	Yes	Northwest of Whitewatch Tower
Fort Fellhammer	Winterhold	Yes	Southeast of Dawnstar
Embershard Mine	Falkreath Hold	Yes	Northwest of Helgen and Southwest of Riverwood
Knifepoint Ridge	Falkreath Hold	Yes	Northwest of Falkreath
Iron-Breaker Mine	The pale	No	Dawnstar
Blind Cliff Cave	The Reach	Yes	Southwest of Karthwasten, east of the Lover Stone

Halted Stream Camp

One of the best mines that you will come across in Skyrim for Iron Veins is the Halted Stream Camp. It isn’t hidden in some faraway distant lands, but right there at the beginning of the game. It is located to the Northwest of Whiterun.

• You can go there on your own and clear the Mine of all its Iron Ores.
• You must remember that Bandits overrun the Mine, so clearing it will be hard.
• At least the mini-boss of the Mine, the Bandit Chief, will be quite hard to kill due to his Heavy Armor.

If you want to get the most out of it, then you must go and meet with Proventus Avenicci, the Steward of Whiterun. He will give you a quest to get rid of all the bandits at that location. In return, you will get a good amount of Gold as a reward.

• Once the Mine is clear of the bandits, pick up the pickaxe and start mining.
• There are a total of 16 Veins inside the Mine.
• Make sure to get all of them, and you will get a total of 48 Iron Ores with three ores on each Vein.
• Apart from that, you will find a total of 4 Iron ores lying around in the Mine.

Fort Fellhammer

The next best iron mines location is Fort Fellhammer. It is located to the South of Dawnstar. It is a little far away from Dawnstar, so you might get lost while looking for it. You can check the map screenshot down below to check its location.

• Fort Fellhammer is filled with Bandits, or in some cases, the Silver Hand.
• Although the goal of the Silver Hand is different than the bandits, to get rid of all Werewolves.
• The Silver Hand will be hostile to the Dragonborn, even if the Dragonborn isn’t a Werewolf.
• You will find resistance there, whatever the case may be.

Although you can go and clear the Fort at even Level 1, it is recommended that you’re at least Level 10. That is because the Bandit Chief can be a bit problematic for you. His Great Sword and Heavy Armor will be deadly for you. Apart from him, you won’t find that much resistance at Fort Fellhammer.

• There are a total of 10 Iron veins in Fort Fellhammer.
• They all will give you 30 Iron Ore to work with.
• Apart from that, if you explore Fort Fellhammer, you will come across another 10 Iron Ores.
• In total, there are 40 Iron Ores that you will come across here.

Embershard Mine

One of the first Iron Mines you will most likely come across on your travels of the world of Skyrim is the Embershard Mine. It is the first mine, as you will locate it on your way to Riverwood after surviving the Dragon’s attack at Helgen. It is to the Northeast of the Standing Stones and to the Southwest of Riverwood.

• You’ll find the usual Bandits swarming the Mine.
• They will be according to the Dragonborn’s level, so you won’t face that many problems while exploring them.
• Come prepared with a few extra Health Potions to refill your health.

The like all mines, the Embershard Mine has a bunch of Iron Veins for you to mine from. But there are as many bandits too. You’ll get attacked by two or three bandits at a time, so it won’t be much of a problem. Although you can play however you like, if you’re having a hard time, you can try out Stealth builds too. For that, you will have to get the best Bow and Arrow. As the Embershard Mine is level dependent, you can start on it right away and get your hands on a bunch of goods early in the game.

• There are a total of 8 Iron Veins in the mine.
• That will give you a total of 24 Iron Ores.
• With that, there are two extra Iron Ores and 2 Iron Ingots scattered in the mine.

Knifepoint Ridge

Up next, we have another Iron Mine that is a great target for some early-game Iron mines in Skyrim. It is the Knifepoint Ridge that is mainly a mine of Corundum Ores but has a good amount of Iron Veins too. It is a camp for the Bandits that have taken over it.

You’ll find them spread around at the Knifepoint Ridge and inside the Knifepoint Mine. It is located to the Northwest of Falkreath. We’ll have its map down below for you to check out.

• Bandits surround the Knifepoint Ridge.
• These bandits will be according to the Dragonborn’s level.
• Unless you’re unprepared, they won’t be able to kill you easily.

When you get to Knifepoint Ridge, there will be a few bandits in the camp. They will be easier to deal with as they’re lower-level Bandits. If you look around, there is a bunch of loot nearby with a few skill books. The real challenge lies inside the Mine. There will be a few higher-level bandits that will cause a problem for you. Not only that, the Bandit Chief will be a serious threat if you don’t come with extra healing potions. You might have to learn different Alchemy Recipes for that.

• The mine is mainly a Corundum Mine, but it contains 5 Veins of Iron Ore, giving you 15 Ores.
• There are 3 Iron Ores that you can loot from the mine too.
• With that, you’ll find 19 Corundum Veins in Knifepoint Mine too.
• All in all, you will get a total of 18 Iron Ores and 57 Corundum Ores.

Iron-Breaker Mine

A small iron mine located in Dawnstar is the Iron-Breaker Mine. The mine is easy to find. If you can’t find it, you can start by looking for the White Hall adjacent to the Mine. Beitild is the owner of the mine. Unlike other Mines in Skyrim, the Iron-Breaker Mine isn’t swarmed by Bandits so you can go in and mine all the Iron Ores that you want.

As there aren’t any threats at the mine, unlike others, you won’t face any problems. But the challenge is that there are other miners inside the mine. They will try to mine all of the Iron Ore and sell it to the Mine owner, Beitild. As there are a bunch of miners, you will find a Pickaxe even if you don’t have one with you.

• The Mine has 6 Iron Veins that will give you 18 Iron Ores.
• The player will come across 1 Iron Ore while looking around in the Mine.
• In total, there are 19 Iron Ores in the Mine.

Blind Cliff Cave

Up next, we have the Blind Cliff Cave. It is a Cave in the Reach region. The Blind Cliff Cave is one of the interesting Iron Mines, as you will get to do a unique mini quest here. It is called The Affairs of Hagravens. We’ll explain it in a while. The Blind Cliff Cave is located to the Northeast of Markarth. If you have located the Lover Stone, then head east from there, and you will come across the Cave.

• The Player needs to be Level 14 to clear the Blind Cliff Cave easily.
• There are Forsworn and two Hagravens inside the Blind Cliff Cave.
• The Forsworn help Petra, one of the Hagravens, and you have to defeat her.
• Make sure to come prepared, as Forsworn are much more deadly compared to the Bandits.

You will find Melka imprisoned inside the Tower. Your goal will be to free her and help her reclaim her Tower. Stick near her, and she will be of great help to you. Make sure that you kill the Forsworn at the Blind Cliff Cave and then at Blind Cliff Bastion as soon as possible because they won’t stop attacking you until you are dead. Lastly, you will have to kill Petra, and then Melka will reward you with a powerful staff.

• Once the cave is clear of all Forsworn, you can start mining all Iron Veins.
• There are Six Iron Veins in total at Blind Cliff Cave.
• In addition to that, you will come across three Quicksilver Veins.
• All in all, there are 18 Iron Ores and 9 Quicksilver Ores for you to mine.

Other Iron Locations

These are some of the best Iron Mines in Skyrim. You can visit them after 30 days of in-game time. Then they will all reset, and you can mine the Iron Veins for more Iron Ores. Apart from these, there are a few other locations from where you can find Iron Ores or Ingots. So, here are a few of those locations.

Solitude Blacksmith

The first one is the Solitude Blacksmith. You will find the Blacksmith’s shop in the city of Solitude in Skyrim. Beirand and Heimvar work at the shop. Although you can buy Iron Ores or Ingots from them, we’re here for the Iron Ingots that are lying around in the shop.

• There are tons of Iron Ingots and Ores in different parts of the shop.
• Players will find up to 27 Ingots and 5 Ores. Out of those, 4 Ingots and 3 Ores are outside of the shop.

Sorli’s House

Up next, we have Sorli’s House. Her house is located at Stonehills, which is a small iron mines settlement. The Settlement is located towards the East of Morthal. Sorli’s House is a great source of Iron Ingots if you don’t care about stealing from other people.

• Sorli’s House has up to 19 Iron Ingots and 4 Iron Ores in it.

Treva’s Watch

Next is Treva’s Watch. It is a Fort that is located to the Southeast of Iverstead. If you start from the Sarethi Farm, the Fort is to the South of it. It is filled with Bandits that are leveled according to the Dragonborn. It is a hard-to-clear fort, as you will have to fight two Bandit Chiefs inside.

• Although it doesn’t have any Iron mines, Treva’s Watch is a good source of Iron in Skyrim.
• We came across up to 18 Iron Ingots and 3 Iron Ores.

East Empire Company Warehouse

The trade center of Skyrim holds a ton of resources in it. If you go on exploring it, you will find a lot of resources for your travels. You’ll find it outside of the City of Solitude, in Haafingar Hold.

• The East Empire Company Warehouse has a ton of Loot for the players.
• You will find Iron Ingots and Iron Ores in the Red Wave ship.
• There are 15 Iron Ingots and 3 Iron Ores there.

The Scorched Hammer

In Riften, you will find The Scorched Hammer, home to the Blacksmith of Riften. There, Balimund lives with his adopted son. As it is a Blacksmith’s shop, you can buy Iron Ores and Ingots from him if you don’t want to visit the Mines of Skyrim. But, if you are willing to steal, then there are a bunch of Ingots lying around in the shop.

• The Scorched Hammer iron mines have 15 Iron Ingots and 2 Iron Ores lying around in them.

Solitude Lighthouse

The last Iron Mines location on our list, where you’ll find a heap of them, is the Solitude Lighthouse. It is to the northwestern side of Skyrim, right next to Solitude. To get here, you will have to travel to Northeast from Solitude’s main entrance. It is home to Ma’zaka, who tends the Lighthouse.

• The Solitude Lighthouse will have a total of 8 Iron Ingots and one iron Ore.

Uses of Iron

Iron is the easiest to acquire ore in Skyrim. Due to that, it was once the best source for leveling up Smithing to 100. Unlike other Ingots, the Iron Ingot only requires one Ore, whereas others require Two or more Ores of the same material. When you have Smithing 100, you can craft powerful Armor and Weapons in Skyrim.

But, after some time, that was changed, and although it is a great starting Ore, there are better options as you level up in the game. You can use those options to level up your Smithing to 100 much more quickly than before. Gold is one of the best Minerals that you can use to get to Smithing 100.

• Although Gold might seem quite hard to get, once you have acquired Iron Ore, you can use a trick to get Gold.
• For that, you will have to use the Transmute spell of Alteration.
• That will first turn Iron Ore into Silver Ore, and then, when you use Transmute on it again, it will convert that Silver Ore into Gold Ore.

Early in the game, players can use Iron to get some of the Early Game armor. Although you will find Iron Armor and Weapons all over the game, if you want to get started quickly, it will be a great source. There are tons of other uses for Iron Ores and Ingots. But if you don’t know where to find it in Skyrim, then you are missing out on a lot of things.

Final Words

According to the following Subreddit Post, getting Iron from Mines and working on it isn’t the best method to increase smithing in Skyrim. You will have to focus on other materials too. Now, the World of Skyrim isn’t only about Fighting and Iron Smithing or with other materials. It is filled with enemies and Dragons and everything. While it is imperative to venture into these Iron Mines, there are plenty of other things to do in the game.

There are a variety of things that you can do in Skyrim. That is why the game is still alive today. Among many other things, you can have your own Horse to travel around. And the different Followers that you can have to help you on your quests.

More From eXputer:

• Best Eye Mods in Skyrim
• Skyrim Best FOV For All Weapons
• Best Race For Magic In Skyrim
• All Dragon Priest Mask Locations