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.
This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
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