That’s nearly miraculous, if true. I have no reason to disbelieve the guy, but wow, I had no idea there is so much iron available in the wild like that.
Iron is widely distributed across the globe. Nearly all soil will have some iron in it. I'm actually in PEI right now to watch the eclipse, and the soil here is famous for it's red colour caused by the high iron-oxide content.
Yes, I'm used to iron filings on the beach in So Cal, but somehow I didn't think it would be in such high amounts in bacteria.
I used to collect magnetic ore from sand using magnets in childhood. If magnets were available in history, then a certain tribe didnt have to pimp their women to obtain iron nails from sailors who ripped them from the very ship they were supposed to maintain, or modern western countries didnt have to burn down barns to recover nails.