OK, i’ll prolly get slapped for this, but...
“Ferromagnetic metals are strongly attracted by a magnetic force. The common ferromagnetic metals include iron, nickel, cobalt, gadolinium, dysprosium and alloys such as steel that also contain specific ferromagnetic metals such as iron or nickel.”
so how much of this will travel along magnetic lines and end up at the poles skewing results?
Thats an interesting question. One usually thinks of electron and proton fluxes getting trapped in the mag field (causing things like the aurora’s). Thats a charged particle in the field. Will a ferromagnetic particle act similarly? Might not since a magnet has both charges. Might cause an orientation but maybe not trap the particle the way it would a charged particle.