Bauxite is the ore from which aluminum is refined. Bauxite is a product of tropical weathering of rocks. With the increasing demand for aluminium for the electrical industry, structural fabrication and aircraft manufacture, the demand for bauxite has increased. Bauxite generally has low aluminium content. The first stage in processing bauxite is to remove impurities like iron and silica and produce alumina. The next stage is smelting of alumina to aluminium metal by electrolysis. This needs large quantity of electric power. Hence smelter is located in places having abundance supply of cheap electricity such as hydroelectric power stations.
The following four are the natural compounds of aluminium.
(a) Cryolite is a double fluoride of aluminium and soda. The west coast of Greenland is the only place where it is found in large quantities.
(b) Corundum is a native alumina (A1203) i.e., aluminium oxide. It is used as an abrasive.
(c) Kaolin - the alumina content being too low and silicate content being too high it is not used in aluminium extraction.
(d) Bauxite - It is the ore containing hydrated aluminium oxide as a important mineral and this is the only source from which aluminium is extracted commercially. Commercial bauxite should contain at least 50 p.c. alumina (A1203) and less than 7 p.c. silica. Tropical climates favor the formation of bauxite.
Hungary, China, and French West Africa contain a considerable quantity of bauxite reserves of 150 million metric tons, 150 million metric tons, 100 million metric tons respectively. Ghana has 80 million, France 50 million, Brazil 40 million, and U.SA 35 million metric tons of bauxite reserves.
World production of bauxite amounted to 40 million metric tons in 1988. France and U.S.A have long been the leading producers of bauxite. Bauxite ore production in France and U.S.A amounted to 3 million and 2 million metric tons in 1985. Jamaica and Surinam produced 8 and 4.6 million metric tons respectively in 1988. Other producing countries are Yugoslavia, Italy, Indonesia, India and Spain.
Aluminium Production. Canada, Norway and Japan have cheap electricity and they have many smelters producing aluminium. In Britain, France and Germany, there are aluminium smelters using imported bauxite or alumina.
The world's leading producers of aluminium are different from bauxite producers. Though world production of bauxite was 99 million tons in 1985, aluminium production amount to 16.9 million tons. The United States is the largest producer with 23% of the world total. Russia, Canada, Australia, Germany and Norway are other producers of aluminium. The locational pattern of aluminium production is dependent on the availability of abundance of power and not the local mining of bauxite ore. Canada, Australia and Norway export aluminium.
Locals hypothesize that the legacy of Italian blood and culture in Cologne, colonized by the Romans more than 1500 years ago, makes the people more jovial and lighthearted. Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine.
Kolsch is not only the dialect spoken here but, also the name of their own top-fermented beer. There are more than 4,000 pubs, restaurant's and brewery taverns in Cologne.
Unlike many of the world's large cities, Cologne, with a population of over a million, gets better every day, there are more things to do and see, more new and innovative buildings... more
Travel is an opportunity to learn, whether geography, languages, history or other subjects.
Global Specialty Tourism Sector is Poised for Steady Growth, According to New ... San Francisco Chronicle (press release) As travelers from the developed nations make up for a large proportion of total tourists, the industry was hit hard ...
Daily Mail Foreign tourists spend record £17.7bn at UK tourist attractions Daily Mail Tourism organisation VisitBritain said the number of tourists coming to the UK for holiday purposes - as opposed to those on business trips or visiti...
CTV.ca Mexico hopes to woo wary BC tourists CBC.ca Mexico Tourism Minister Gloria Guevara has embarked on a mission to Vancouver to try to reassure potential BC tourists to her country that it's still safe to travel there. Recent v...
Travel, tourism rates in WA on the rebound Northwest Cable News by Ashley Korslien & KREM.com SPOKANE-- A new study shows travel and tourism rates in Washington state may be on the rebound. KREM 2's Ashley Korslien found out how t...
KMVT Las Vegas visitor count up in 2011; tourists, gamblers returning to recession ... Washington Post LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas saw a 2.5 percent increase in visitors in December compared with the same month a year ago in the latest sign ...
Cologne is situated on the beautiful Rhine River.