Bauxite (6) Raw Minerals Stones Rocks Collecting

Description

Origin : Italy (Abruzzo)

241-330 gr - cm 6.5-9 Raw Minerals Stones Rocks for Collection.
Also available in lots, at this link.

Bauxite (or baussite) is a sedimentary rock which is the main source for aluminum production.
It takes its name from the village of Les Baux-de-Provence, in the south of France, near which the first mines were opened in 1822.
Its composition is characterized by the presence of different mineralogical species among which aluminum and iron oxides and hydroxides prevail. In particular, it is rich in aluminum metahydroxide AlO (OH) and orthohydroxide Al (OH) 3. The amount of aluminum hydroxide varies in the different deposits between 30 and 75% ,.
Generally a bauxitic deposit is presented in the form of an aggregate of lithic consistency in which are scattered pisolites, or nodules of rounded shape, whose shape would be due to the transport immediately. The color of bauxite is generally dark red with irregular spots.
Bauxite is normally rich in impurities such as silica and oxides of iron and titanium.
The industrial process of aluminum production (Bayer Process) involves the separation of impurities from aluminum salts as a first step, by reacting with concentrated solutions of sodium hydroxide; aluminum hydroxides become water-soluble sodium aluminate, while impurities do not go into solution and can be separated. The aluminum of the sodium aluminate is then precipitated, by dilution of the solution, in aluminum hydroxide, which is then sent to the subsequent purification steps.
According to the current Italian mining legislation, bauxite extraction activities are classified as mines.
Italian production is not relevant on a global scale. In the past, there were bauxite mines in Puglia and in Campania (Cusano Mutri in the province of Benevento).