Circular Economy & Materials
Bauxite
The principal ore of aluminium — a reddish rock refined into alumina — whose mining and processing geography is reshaping the aluminium supply chain.
Definition
A sedimentary rock rich in aluminium hydroxides, serving as the world's main source of aluminium. Bauxite is refined into alumina (aluminium oxide) via the Bayer process and then smelted into aluminium metal. Major reserves and production sit in Guinea, Australia and a handful of other countries; refining has historically been concentrated near consumption, but is shifting towards mining countries.
References
Guinea's supply dominance (149 Mt to China, 74% of imports in 2025); refinery build-out ambitions (7 Mt alumina by 2030); domestic-processing leverage.
Overview
What it means
Bauxite links sustainability debates on several fronts: mining impacts on tropical landscapes and communities; the energy- and waste-intensive refining step (including bauxite residue/"red mud" management); and resource-nationalism policies pushing domestic processing — Guinea, now supplying most of China's imports (149 million tonnes in 2025), is pressing miners to build local alumina refineries.
How it is used
In supply-chain due diligence and commodity analysis, bauxite is the upstream starting point of the aluminium chain tracked under deforestation, community-rights and beneficiation agendas. Export bans and refinery requirements (Guinea, Indonesia historically) are used to capture more value domestically.
Why it matters
Aluminium demand grows with the energy transition, so where and how bauxite is mined and refined — and who captures the value — is a live development and supply-chain governance question.
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