How much aluminum can be produced from four tons of high-grade bauxite?

Four tons of high-grade bauxite yield approximately two tons of alumina, which can then be processed to produce one ton of aluminum.1

The production of aluminum involves two primary stages:
* Refining: The Bayer process is used to extract alumina from bauxite ore by removing impurities such as iron oxide, silica, and titania.23
* Smelting: The resulting alumina is then converted into metallic aluminum using the Hall-Héroult electrolytic process.2

Because alumina is composed of aluminum and oxygen bonded together, it requires these specialized industrial methods to separate the metal from the oxygen.3