Raw iron blocks found among iron ore while mining

I am unsure whether this is a bug or not but can't find it mentioned anywhere as a feature,  so am reporting it.

While I was mining today I found large deposits of iron ore scattered around a cave I had broken into.  Two of these clusters contained a block of raw iron adjacent to iron ore and deepslate iron ore. The block could be mined and smelted after breaking it into its component 9 parts of raw iron.

Screenshots of one of the blocks, both in situ and after mining, are attached.

World seed: 1024 (freshly generated on 1.17.30.24)

Gameplay mode: Survival 

Difficulty: Normal 

Cheats: All off

Experimental toggles all on except for "Holiday creator features" and "Upcoming modding capabilities".