A method for the co-production of fuel and iron from coal (11) and from iron ore (47) respectfully, which is comprised of heating the coal in the absence of oxygen to make a raw coal gas and a residual coke, and of increasing the content of free hydrogen in the coal gas through the cracking against a desulfurizing hot reagent, of the hydrocarbons contained in the gas in order to yield a hydrogen rich, desulfurized, hot reducing synthetic gas (25). This synthetic gas (25) which is highly reactive, is fed through a bed of iron ore in order to directly reduce the ore to metallized iron (56).