Rock to product, traced
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The rock itself

Ore minerals

A metal is not found as metal. It is locked in a specific mineral, at a specific concentration, in a specific kind of rock — and which mineral it is decides how it must be mined and processed.

Azurite-malachite-specimen Mineral specimen featuring azuri… · Δανάη Κωτσιομύτη · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
All Sulfide · 10Oxide · 9Silicate · 6Phosphate · 3Halide · 3Sulfate · 2Carbonate · 2Tungstate · 2Native element · 2Carbonate (fluorocarbonate) · 1Borate · 1Sulfide (arsenide) · 1Brine · 1Clay · 1Vanadate · 1Silicate (mica) · 1Sulfide (sulfarsenide) · 1Hydroxide · 1Oxide/hydroxide · 1Silicate (pyroxene) · 1Oxide (spinel) · 1
Bauxite (gibbsite/boehmite) specimen

Bauxite (gibbsite/boehmite)

Not one mineral but a rock of aluminium hydroxides left after millions of years of tropical weathering.

HydroxideAl(OH)3 / AlO(OH)

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