Virtual Field Trip - How Aluminum is made

Visit the "It All Starts With Dirt" Web site


See how aluminum is made




Alcoa's founders discovered how to make pure aluminum and created a new industry the world over. Explore the amazing process of turning a four-ton truckload of dirt into a ton of aluminum.
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Adding value from the ground up
Age of Aluminum
The Alcoa story
Alcoa at a glance
Glossary
Map: Alcoa Around The World



It All Starts with Dirt. This kind of dirt is called bauxite ore. From four tons of bauxite, it's possible to refine about two tons of alumina—a powdery white oxide of aluminum. And from those two tons of alumina, we can smelt a ton of aluminum. Smelting aluminum was the invention that launched Alcoa in 1888. A ton of aluminum is enough to make the cans for over 60,000 Cokes, Pepsis, or Buds. Enough to make the spaceframes for seven full-size cars. Enough to make 40,000 computer memory disks, capable of storing all the books ever published. All from a truckload of dirt. It's almost magical. And we're proud to have the magicians who can pull it off.

There's no other material quite like aluminum
- it is light in weight
- highly resistant to corrosion
- strong in alloys
- an excellent conductor of electricity and heat
- an excellent reflector of heat and light
- nonmagnetic
- nontoxic
- outstanding in cryogenic properties
- highly workable
- easy to assemble
- and naturally good looking.