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Bauxite Mineral
Bauxite mineral is the primary
ore of aluminium.
It is actually a mixture of a few different minerals, but it is not a rock (rocks normally consist of different minerals).
It is a kind of laterite - a loose weathered material that consists of a few different minerals, including aluminium and iron oxides and hydroxides (including gibbsite, diaspore and boehmite).
Other minerals that may be present include quartz, siderite, goethite, magnetite, hematite, and clay minerals.
It is most often reddish brown in colour, but can also be yellowish, whiteish, pinkish or grey. It is most often massive in habit, and it can be quite soft or quite hard to crush.
It forms from many different rocks that are rich in aluminium silicates in warm and humid climate typical for tropical rainforests.
In that kind of warm and wet climate, other minerals are washed away by chemical weathering, while aluminium and iron oxides and hydroxides are left behind.
This makes bauxite an excellent Aluminium ore - 99% of the aluminium in the world is produced from bauxite.
It was first discovered in southern France, where it was named after the town of Les Baux de Provence.
Today, about 40% of all world's bauxite comes from Australia, and mainly from the world's largest bauxite mine in Weipa on Cape York peninsula.
Other places in Australia include Darling Range in Western Australia and Gove in Northern Territory.
Some other tropical countries such as India, Jamaica, Brazil and New Guinea also have some bauxite.
Some bauxite is also found in the US, China, Ghana, Greece, Italy and France.
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