Bauxite is a rock formed from a reddish clay material called late rite soil and is most commonly found in tropical or subtropical regions. Bauxite is primarily comprised of aluminium oxide compounds (alumina), silica, iron oxides and titanium dioxide. Approximately 70 percent of the world’s bauxite production is refined through the Bayer chemical process into alumina. Alumina is then refined into pure aluminium metal through the Hall–Héroult electrolytic process.
More than 160 million metric tons of bauxite are mined each year. The leaders in bauxite production include Australia, China, Brazil, India and Guinea. Bauxite reserves are estimated to be 55 to 75 billion metric tons, primarily spread across Africa (32 percent), Oceania (23 percent), South America and the Caribbean (21 percent) and Asia (18 percent).
Bauxite Ore in India
The total in situ reserves are 3,076 million tonnes as on 1 April, 2000. These deposits are mainly associated with laterites and occur as blankets or cappings on hills and plateaus except in coastal areas of Gujarat and Goa. The major occurrences have been reported from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, M.P., Orissa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, U.P. and Rajasthan are also reported to have some bauxite deposits. The production of bauxite has increased rather out of proportion from a mere 68 thousand tonnes in 1950-51 to a staggering quantity of 9,777 thousand tonnes in 2002-03 recording an increase of over 140 times in a span of about half a century.
Orissa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh are the main bauxite producing states in India.
Exports
As much as 80 per cent of the bauxite is used for producing aluminium. India’s exports of bauxite have been reduced considerably due to increasing demand in the home market. Still India manages to export small quantities of bauxite. The main buyers of Indian bauxite are Italy (60%), U.K. (25%), Germany (9%) and Japan (4%).