Mining

Mining of bauxite begins with the removal of top soil and overburden, which are conserved for rehabilitation of the mine site. This exposes a hard cap rock layer, which must be blasted with high technology explosives to reduce the noise and flying rock while still producing adequate fragmentation of the rock. Broken cap rock and the more friable or crumbly material below the cap are loaded onto trucks by front-end loaders and transported to primary crushers at the mines. The crushed ore is then transported to the refineries by rail or conveyor.

Australia is one of the largest suppliers of aluminium in the world. Bauxite is mined by Alcoa World Alumina - Australia at three locations in the Darling Range in Western Australia, as well as by other companies throughout Australia.