Bauxite

Bauxite, an aluminium ore, is the world's main source of aluminium. It consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al(OH)₃, boehmite γ-AlO(OH) and diaspore α-AlO(OH), mixed with the two iron oxides goethite and haematite, the clay mineral kaolinite and small amounts of anatase TiO₂, Ilmenite, FeTiO₃, and FeO TiO₂. In 1821 the French geologist Pierre Berthier discovered bauxite near the village of Les Baux in Provence, southern France. In 1861, French chemist Henri Sainte-Claire Deville named the mineral "bauxite".