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Is Aluminum a Precious Metal?

Aluminum is a recently-discovered metal that has only been in widespread use for about 100 years. Before the discovery of the best method to purify and extract aluminum from the earth, aluminum was considered a precious metal because of its difficulty to mine and purify. After the invention of the process currently used to purify

die casing aluminum, aluminum molding, and aluminum spinning.

It was not until 1825 that the first pure form of aluminum was produced. An inventor named Hans Christian Oersted was able to isolate and create a small lump of aluminum from aluminum oxides. From 1825 until 1855, aluminum products were extremely rare. In fact, most people considered aluminum a “precious metal” and it was more expensive than gold, platinum, or any other precious metal used today.

In 1889, Karl Josef Bayer created a much better method for extracting aluminum from bauxite. This process, called the Bayer process,  mixes the bauxite with sodium hydroxide, which separates the aluminum from the impurities, then carbon dioxide is used to purify the metal further. This process of obtaining pure aluminum is still in use today. After this method was created, the price of aluminum fell rapidly.

At the start of the 1900s, the output of aluminum was about 8,000 tons. By 1999, 31 million tons of aluminum were produced. Aluminum has become such as part of everyday life that it is difficult to find a metal product that contains no aluminum or alloys. Aluminum is used for decoration, cooking, structures, furniture, electrical parts, die casting aluminum, and much more. Life would be very different without the high use of aluminum in our world.