What is bauxite?

What is Bauxite? “Bauxite is primarily a metallic mineral though it is also used as an industrial mineral. It is the only ore used for large scale aluminium production.”. Much of the bauxite is formed by the desilication of clays.

Why set up bauxite-alumina Institute in India?

For sustainable development of bauxite mining, export and alumina refinery, it is necessary to set up Bauxite-Alumina Institute in the country to facilitate all the R&D work including bauxite characterisation, resource-reserve estimation, mine planning and work on the process technology for alumina production.

What is the percentage of alumina in bauxite?

It contains almost 25 percent-30% alumina. In the belt around the equator, bauxite is commonly found. The primary aluminium bearing ore with an aluminium content of more than 35 to 40 percent is bauxite. Therefore, owing to the rising production of primary aluminium, demand for bauxite is projected to grow dramatically in the future.

Where is bauxite exported from?

Guinea, a small West African country with a population of 12.4 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres, is the largest bauxite exporter in the world today. The bauxite mining industry is booming in this country and at the same time, the necessary infrastructure for export is also being developed here.

What is the future demand for bauxite?

The primary aluminium bearing ore with an aluminium content of more than 35 to 40 percent is bauxite. Therefore, owing to the rising production of primary aluminium, demand for bauxite is projected to grow dramatically in the future.

What is the composition of the bauxite deposit at Haile?

The deposit was estimated to contain a mineable 1.5 Mt of washed bauxite with an average composition of 49.4% alumina (Wolfenden and Haile, 1963 ). The bauxite formed a bed averaging 2 m thick. The bauxite is friable and reddish-brown, contains boulders of all sizes up to 12 m diameter of gabbro, which would hinder mining.

What is the composition of bauxite tailings?

The undissolved waste, bauxite tailings, after the aluminium compounds are extracted contains iron oxides, silica, calcia, titania and some un-reacted alumina. After separation of the residue by filtering, pure gibbsite is precipitated when the liquid is cooled, and then seeded with fine-grained aluminium hydroxide.