01 / Mine
Bauxite
Guinea, Australia, China, Brazil, and India lead the upstream ore map. Ore grade, infrastructure, licensing, and export policy influence where it moves next.
01 / Interactive origin map
One metal. Six different maps.
Select a stage or finished alloy. Raw-material circles are sized by estimated 2025 output. Finished-alloy markers are documented manufacturing or supply examples—not country production rankings.
Loading world map…
Circle size = estimated 2025 mine output · World total: 440 million metric tons
Guinea
Bauxite is refined into alumina. Roughly four tons of dried bauxite are required to produce one ton of aluminum metal.
150 Mt2025 estimate
Raw-stage data: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. Finished-product locations are representative examples documented by manufacturers and specification bodies; alloy-level national output is not published in a comparable global dataset.
02 / The aluminum chain
Origin changes at every stage.
“Made from aluminum” compresses a four-step industrial chain into one phrase. Mining geography, electrical power, refining capacity, rolling equipment, heat treatment, certification, and recycled feed all shape the final origin.
02 / Refine
Alumina
The Bayer process converts bauxite into aluminum oxide. China’s refinery footprint is much larger than its domestic ore base, so imported bauxite matters.
03 / Smelt
Primary metal
The Hall–Héroult process turns alumina into metal using substantial electricity. China leads; hydro-rich Canada, Norway, Iceland, and Brazil also matter.
04 / Mill
Finished alloy
Casthouses blend base metal, recycled scrap, and alloying additions. Rolling, extrusion, forging, quenching, aging, and certification create the purchasable product.
Parallel input / Remelt
Recycled metal
The four stages above describe primary metal only. A casthouse can also charge recycled scrap — process offcuts, mill returns, and end-of-life material — and remelting takes a small fraction of the electricity that electrolytic smelting requires, on the order of five percent. Aluminum can be remelted repeatedly without degrading its properties, so scrap is a genuine feedstock rather than a downgrade.
That matters for this page's central question. Metal in a finished sheet may never have passed through any bauxite mine on this map. Recycled content changes the emissions profile, and it changes what an origin claim actually describes: a country of melt applies to the remelt, not to the ore. Neither the alloy number nor the temper reveals the ratio, which is why recycled content and its calculation boundary belong in the purchase order alongside country of melt.
Four-to-two-to-one rule of thumbUSGS notes that, as a general rule, about 4 tons of dried bauxite produce 2 tons of alumina, which can produce 1 ton of aluminum. Actual mass balance varies with ore and process conditions.
The stage totals on this page do not divide that cleanly, and the reason is worth knowing. Alumina to metal tracks closely — 150 Mt of alumina against 74 Mt of primary aluminum. Bauxite to alumina does not: 440 Mt of ore would imply roughly 220 Mt of alumina. Mine production is reported as gross weight including moisture, while the rule assumes dried ore, and a portion of world alumina goes to abrasives, refractories, and chemical uses instead of to a smelter. Use the rule for order-of-magnitude reasoning, not for reconciling published stage totals.
03 / Finished alloy guide
The alloy number is not the country of origin.
Alloy designations control chemistry. Temper designations control the processing condition. Neither identifies the mill, the feedstock path, recycled content, or country of melt.
5052
Active · non-heat-treatable
Corrosion-resistant sheet workhorse
An aluminum-magnesium alloy commonly used for sheet, plate, tube, tanks, marine parts, and enclosures. It is strain-hardened into H tempers such as H32 and H34; 5052-T6 is not a valid normal callout.
6062
Legacy · inactive AA designation
Verify before ordering
6062 is a historical Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy. The Aluminum Association’s 2025 Teal Sheets list it as presently inactive, reclassified in 1964, while SAE AMS4155 still covers 6062-T6 extrusions.
7075-T6
Active · heat-treated
Very high strength
An Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy used in aerospace, defense, tooling, and highly loaded parts. T6 maximizes strength; T73 and T76 derivatives may be selected when stress-corrosion performance needs more margin.
Did you mean 6061-T6?6061-T6 is the mainstream current structural 6xxx alloy seen in sheet, plate, bar, tube, and extrusions. If a drawing calls for 6062-T6, do not silently substitute—confirm the governing specification and design intent.
See 6061-T6 gauges, tooling, and bend data → · Full aluminum stock list →
04 / Buying & traceability
Buy the certificate, not the sales description.
A distributor location, website domain, or shipping warehouse does not establish country of melt or mill origin. Put the evidence you need directly into the purchase order.
Projects requiring USA-sourced materialXeon NC can source material with mill certifications for products and jobs that require USA-sourced metal. Tell us the requirement before quoting and provide the exact contract language or governing clause so we can confirm material availability, producing-mill origin, required documentation, and compliance for the specific order.
Browse the aluminum stock list → · Filter every alloy by service and thickness → · Send us the clause →
01
Alloy, temper, product form, and governing standard
Example: 5052-H32 sheet to ASTM B209. State thickness, width, length, finish, tolerance, and protected face.
02
Mill test report and heat or lot traceability
Require chemistry, mechanical properties, temper, product specification, producing mill, heat/lot identifiers, and traceable markings.
03
Country of melt, cast, roll, extrusion, or final processing
Define the origin stage that matters to the contract. “Country of origin” can be ambiguous across a multi-country supply chain.
04
Domestic-source or approved-country clauses
State Buy America, DFARS, customer-approved-mill, sanctions, tariff, or other contractual requirements explicitly and have them reviewed.
05
Recycled content and chain-of-custody evidence
Primary versus secondary metal can materially change emissions. Ask for the calculation boundary, verification method, and product-specific documentation.
06
Aerospace and special-process approvals
For 7075 and legacy 6062 procurement, verify current specification revisions, mill approvals, heat treatment, ultrasonic inspection, and customer flow-downs.
05 / Sources & method
What the map can—and cannot—prove.
The raw-resource layers are quantitative country estimates. The finished-alloy layers show representative documented sources because no authoritative public dataset reports national output for individual wrought alloys and tempers.
Use the raw layers for supply-chain context and concentration risk. Use the finished-alloy layer to start supplier research, then qualify the actual mill, plant, product form, standard, temper, certification, and commercial availability for the order.
Quantitative map data
These back the sized circles on the bauxite, alumina, and primary aluminum layers.
- U.S. Geological Survey — Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026
- USGS — Bauxite and Alumina Statistics and Information
Alloy, specification, and manufacturer references
These support the alloy descriptions and the documented-source markers. Not every reference appears as a marker — some are cited for alloy properties only.
- The Aluminum Association — International Alloy Designations, 2025 Teal Sheets
- SAE AMS4155 — 6062-T6 Aluminum Alloy Extrusions
- Hydro — 5052 Aluminum Properties and Product Forms properties reference
- Kaiser Aluminum — Aerospace and High-Strength Products
- UACJ — High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Sheets for Aircraft
- Constellium — Issoire Aerospace Plate, Sheet, and Extrusion Mill
Educational guide only. Confirm current standards, trade rules, sanctions, tariffs, approved-source requirements, engineering allowables, and mill documentation for the actual contract.