<p>With the proposal of China’s “Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality” policy, the steel industry faces urgent pressure to transition toward green and low-carbon development. However, the persistent reliance on burden structure dominated by sinter and pellet in China has led to the high energy consumption and pollution emissions in process before ironmaking, which has increasingly become a major obstacle to the green development of the steel industry. Lump ore can be directly charged into blast furnaces without high-temperature roasting, making it a more environmentally friendly and cleaner raw material option. The utilization of lump ore in blast furnace not only has obvious economic advantages but also achieves significant energy saving and carbon reduction effects. Therefore, an overview of the application of natural lump ore resources was provided, with a focus on its metallurgical properties and the factors influencing them. It further analyzed and summarized strategies for optimizing lump ore performance, particularly highlighting the advantages and technical challenges associated with preheating treatments. Additionally, the application experience, changes in technical and economic indicators, as well as the effects of energy saving and carbon reduction under the condition of a high ratio of lump ore in actual production were elaborated in detail. The results show that after loading lump ore to blast furnaces, the raw material cost is reduced by approximately 50.88 CNY/t, and the CO₂ emissions from the production of 1&#xa0;t pig iron can be reduced by 51.18&#xa0;kg.</p>