Skip to main content
bauxite

bauxite

4 8.9
A soft red-brown rock that miners use to make aluminum
  • noun
  • /ˈbɔːksaɪt/
  • Specialized
: bauxita
  • The region is known for its rich deposits of bauxite, essential for aluminum manufacturing.
  • bauxite/alumina
  • bauxite industry
  • bauxite mining

Examples

  • The country was running chronic trade deficits that were covered by an inflow of investment in the bauxite and tourism sectors.

    Academic text (1992)
  • In that year, the country exported 12 million tons of bauxite, some of it in the processed form of alumina.

    Academic text (1992)
  • In particular, the window of opportunity opened by the bauxite levy was missed.

    Academic text (1992)
  • More cities, more roads, and more infrastructure will mean more steel, more copper, and more bauxite.

    Academic text (2010)
  • Not much, except there's a bauxite mine there.

  • Coal is the most important resource, followed by copper, lead and bauxite.

  • Thus, the Caribbean bauxite industry managed to attract large sums of investment.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Of course, the Seaga government's bauxite policy was hardly consistent with its free enterprise rhetoric.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Mining bauxite is very damaging, and producing aluminum requires an enormous amount of energy.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The bauxite/alumina sector declined in importance as a foreign exchange earner relative to tourism and export manufacturing.

    Academic text (1992)

Surface Forms

bauxite singular
bauxites plural

Etymology

Bauxite comes from the name of a village in France, Les Baux, where this reddish rock was first found, so the name means 'from Les Baux'. That is why bauxite is the name for the clay-like ore that gives us aluminum.