Iron ore victims mount but is it worth finding a villain?

The iron ore price plunge is threatening to claim its next, and largest, Australian victim.

The Karara magnetite project in Western Australia is teetering on the verge of collapse as its majority owner, Chinese state-owned steel producer Ansteel, considers pulling funding for the $3 billion project, blaming the iron ore price's spectacular collapse to just over $US41 a tonne.