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Il n'y a pas de fer ici, alors nous avons fermé la mine.

Il n'y a pas de fer ici, alors nous avons fermé la mine.
There is no iron here, so we closed the mine.
From Lesson 208:The future perfect tense·French

Questions & Answers about Il n'y a pas de fer ici, alors nous avons fermé la mine.

Why is it pas de fer and not pas du fer?
In French, indefinite and partitive articles (like un, une, du, de la) change to de (or d') after a negative expression like pas. Because you are saying there is zero iron here, du fer (some iron) becomes pas de fer (no iron).
Does alors mean "so" or "then" in this sentence?
Here it means "so" (showing a consequence). While alors can mean "then" when talking about time (like "I was young then"), it is very commonly used as a conjunction meaning "so" or "therefore". You could also use donc here, though alors is slightly more conversational.
Why doesn't the past participle fermé agree with the feminine noun la mine?
When a verb uses the auxiliary (helping) verb avoir in the passé composé, the past participle only changes to match the direct object if that object comes before the verb. Since la mine comes after avons fermé, the spelling stays as fermé.
Is fer the same word you use for an iron you use on clothes?
Yes! Le fer means the metal "iron", but it is also used for a clothing iron. The full term for the household appliance is un fer à repasser (literally, "an iron for ironing"), but it is often shortened to just un fer.

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