Australia aluminum production

The CSIRO Division of Mineral Products, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, is conducting research to develop a process to recover fluoride and aluminum from spent pot lining ash with concurrent production of an environmentally safe residue that is suitable for disposal. The proposed method involves initial calcination which thermally decomposes the cyanide in the spent pot lining. Successful completion of this research would reduce the amount of hazardous wastes that contain potentially harmful leachable cyanides that can enter the groundwater during open air storage. 

By 1995, Australia will probably be one of the world s three largest aluminum producers. At present, it supplies onc-third of the world s bauxite. New smeller construction underway is expected to boost the world production by two million tons (1.8 million metric tons). New Zealand also has a good potential. Australia has coal reserves estimated at 1500 years. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in 2008 China led world smelter production of aluminum, followed by Russia, Canada, the United States, Australia, Brazil, and India. 

The worldwide production of aluminum hydroxide [hydrated aluminum oxide, Al(OH)3], ca. 32.3 lO t/a in 1981, increased 4.7% annually in the period 1985 to 1991, but fell 2% to 41.5 10 t/a (as AI2O3) in 1992. The three leading producing countries in 1992 were Australia (27%), USA (12%) and Jamaica (7%) and currently account for about half of the world production. The production of aluminum oxide (alumina, AI2O3), occurring naturally as corundum, was slightly lower, since not all the hydrated aluminum oxide is calcined. The production in the Federal Republic of Germany decreased from 1.51 10 t/a in 1982 (before unification) to 0.87 10 t/a in 1992 (after unification). 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), world bauxite resources are estimated to be 55 to 75 billion tonnes, located mainly in South America (33%), Africa (27%), Asia (17%), Oceania (13%), and elsewhere (10%). Today, Australia supplies 35% of the world demand for bauxite, South America 25%, and Africa 15%. It is estimated that the current reserves will be able to supply worldwide demand for more than two centuries. Note that about 95% of bauxite is of metallurgical grade and hence used for the production of primary aluminum metal. 

The worldwide production of alumina was estimated to be 62.4 million tons in 2006, an increase from the 1995 value of 38 million tons (Evans, 1996), with Australia (17.7 milUon tons), China (8.6 million tons), Brazil (5.3 million tons) and USA (5.2 million tons) as the leading producers (Source USGS Mineral Resources Program). While 90% of the alumina is used to extract metallic aluminum by electrolysis, approximately 10% of the total is non-metallurgical alumina used for advanced ceramic allocations (see Section 7.1.4.3 below). 

Primary aluminum is produced in many countries. The biggest producers are Russia, China, the United States and Canada with 11-13% each of total world production. Considerable quantities are also produced in Australia with 7.5% share, and in Brazil and Norway with 4-5% each [37.7]. 

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