Alumina

What is alumina? Bauxite is refined into alumina through the Bayer Process summarised below.



Alumina (aluminium oxide) is a white granular material produced from the refining of bauxite. Around 90 per cent of the world’s alumina is smelted to produce aluminium metal. Around two tonnes of alumina is required to produce one tonne of aluminium.

Western Australian alumina had total sales value of $3.8 billion in 2009–10, alumina was the fifth-largest sector of the State’s resources industry and represents one of the State’s key value-added products. Even though a slightly greater quantity was sold, the total value was down from $4.6 billion from that in 2008–09, due to lower prices received in the wake of the global financial crisis, together with the strengthening Australian dollar.

The alumina price, in Australian dollar terms, increased steadily over the year from $269 per tonne in July 2009 to $340 per tonne in June 2010, averaging $301 per tonne.

This is still well down, however, on the average price of $369 per tonne achieved in 2008–09. The key driver of this recovery was the increasing price of aluminium, driven by improving economic conditions in the latter part of 2009 and reductions in production caused by the temporary closure of a number of smelters.

Aluminium has now become the second most used metal in the world after steel. Its unique combination of properties makes it suitable for many applications, especially in the automotive industry, due to its high strength-to-weight ratio. It is also unique in that it is 100 per cent recyclable, with nearly three-quarters of all aluminium produced still in use today.

Australia is the world’s largest bauxite producer and the second-largest producer of alumina. In 2009–10, Western Australia produced 63 per cent of the country’s total alumina output, with growth in production remaining close to its long-term growth rate of around three per cent per annum. Reserves of bauxite ore are sufficient to last more than 50 years at current production levels.

Current production of alumina is focused on the South West of Western Australia, with the Darling Range containing considerable deposits of bauxite. The 12.6 million tonnes of alumina sold in 2009–10 was accounted for by two producers: Alcoa World Alumina and Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd.

More than 95 per cent, or $3.66 billion, of the alumina produced in Western Australia was exported in 2009–10, with a relatively small amount shipped by Alcoa to its aluminium smelters in Victoria. The State’s main export market is China, the world’s largest consumer and major producer of aluminium. China took 27 per cent of WA alumina exports in 2009–10, significantly up from the amount purchased in 2008–09 (20 per cent). Other major customers include South Africa (14 per cent), the United Arab Emirates (13 per cent) and Bahrain (12 per cent).

(Source: http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/documents/Statistics_Digest_2009-10.pdf)