Properties of Aluminum

Pure aluminum is a soft lightweight metal. Mixed with small, often minute, quantities of other materials – iron, silicon, zinc, copper, magnesium, tin, titanium, lithium, chromium, tungsten, manganese, nickel, zirconium and boron - it is possible to produce an array of alloys with specific properties for very different purposes.

Aluminum can be very strong, light (less than one third the specific weight of steel, copper or brass), ductile, and malleable. It is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. Polished aluminum has the highest reflectivity of any material - even mirror glass. It can be cast, rolled or extruded into an infinite variety of shapes. It has unique barrier properties as a packaging material, it resists corrosion and it can be recycled – again and again and again, with no loss of quality or properties.

Uses

Bauxite is the principal ore for the production of alumina, and ultimately aluminum. The production of alumina consumes over 90% of global bauxite mined. The remainder is used in the refractory, abrasive and chemical industries. Bauxite is also used in the production of high - alumina cement, as a catalyst in the oil industry, in welding rod coatings, and as a flux in making steel and ferroalloys. Alumina is used to produce aluminum, which has a wide range of uses in the consumer and capital goods markets. Some uses of aluminum include electrical equipment; car, ship, aircraft construction; metallurgical processes; industrial and domestic construction and packaging materials.

Bauxite is composed of three main minerals; gibbsite (Al₂0₃.3H20), boehmite (Al203.H20), and diaspore, which has the same composition as boehmite but is denser and harder. Bauxite ore is considered economically exploitable when it contains sufficiently high enough Al₂O₃ and low levels of Fe₂O₃ and silica. Australia, Guinea and Jamaica are the world’s major producers.

Mining Areas

Aluminum ore, most commonly bauxite, is plentiful and occurs mainly in tropical and sub-tropical areas  of Africa, West Indies, South America and Australia. There are also some deposits in Europe.

Bauxite is refined into aluminum oxide trihydrate (alumina) and then electrolytically reduced into metallic aluminum.  Primary aluminum production facilities which convert alumina to metallic aluminum are located all over the world, often in areas where there are abundant supplies of inexpensive energy, such as hydro-electric power.

Loading bauxite into a haul truck