Aluminium

The light metal made from bauxite and vast amounts of electricity, used in cars, cans, buildings and power lines; China smelts 60%.

Base metals · No. 7

• EU strategic
• EU critical 2023
• US critical 2025
• HHI 3,719 · highly concentrated

Smelting one tonne of aluminium uses as much electricity as a US household consumes in a whole year.

Chart: Illustration: Aluminium

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Bauxite forms where tropical rain leaches silica from rock, leaving aluminium-rich soil. It is strip-mined in Guinea, Australia, China and Brazil, then refined to alumina.

Three things to know

1. About 4 tonnes of dried bauxite make 2 tonnes of alumina, enough for a single tonne of aluminium.
2. Aluminium weighs a third as much as steel, and a thin oxide film protects it from corrosion.
3. China absorbed 86.9% of the world's $12.1 billion of bauxite imports in 2024.

The journey

1. 1 BauxiteStrip-mined from tropical laterite soils
2. 2 AluminaBayer process, caustic soda digestion
3. 3 SmeltingElectrolysis splits alumina into metal
4. 4 CastingIngot, billet and slab
5. 5 ShapingRolled and extruded into sheet, foil

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