how to get iron

[bpppg79]

Hello,
Trying to get iron to make the thrown for the quest, made it to the HIM but couldn't get any iron. Was using a copper mace and don't know of any upgrades to it. Also, is the HIM the only place to get iron? I hope not as that place is full of annoying enemies

[This PC]

As far as I remember, you need a merciless copper weapon to mine iron. Any will do. That will require you to unlock more research in your research desk. You can craft paper and use 50 of them to unlock a random research.
You can find iron just spread out on the map in dunley, but it's fairly rare. There is two concentrated spots, the haunted iron mines and an iron cave north-north-west of the haunted iron mine near a waygate in dunley. Haunted mines is the easiest, the iron cave is far harder to deal with.
Haunted iron mines are a little bit daunting to deal with at first, but you get used to the difficulty spike. Most of the content from that point forward about mirrors the difficulty of haunted iron mines up to when you move into South Gloomrot. Make sure you avoid the wandering bosses for your first few forays. Also good to know that you don't need to go out the way you came in, there's an exit on each side south of the mine.
Is gonna be hard for a bit, until you adapt and your gear catches up. I'd focus on unlocking the full upgraded armor and the merciless copper weapons you need from the research desk first. Start using healing items like blood rose brew, and buff items like brew of ferocity. Start recognizing the moves you have that have utility, like once you unlock greatsword, the skill that is bound to E allows you to avoid damage for a bit. That sort of stuff. ^^''