Aluminum compounds occur in all types of clay, but the ore that is most useful for producing pure aluminum is bauxite. ... Aluminum is manufactured in two phases: the Bayer process of refining the bauxite ore to obtain aluminum oxide, and the Hall-Heroult process of smelting the aluminum oxide to release pure aluminum.

Is aluminum naturally made?

Aluminum was born out of science.

Aluminum isn't naturally found in the Earth's crust. It comes from bauxite, which has to be processed to get aluminum. ... Essentially, innovation made this metal possible.As an interesting fact, Danish chemist Hans Christian Oersted first extracted aluminum from alum in 1825.

Why was Aluminium so expensive?

Aluminium is the most abundant (found in large quantities) metal in the Earth's crust . It is expensive, largely because of the amount of electricity required in the extraction process. Aluminium ore is called bauxite . ... Aluminium oxide has a very high melting point (over 2000°C) so it would be expensive to melt it.