Affiliation:
1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Abstract
The present work provides a concise examination of the historical global production levels of bauxite, primary aluminum, and secondary aluminum from 1850 to 2015. It also provides a contextual background to these data by summarizing the main etymological, technical, and commercial developments throughout most of this period. It further includes comprehensive data for the pricing of primary aluminum in both historical and 2015 dollars on the basis of economy cost. The syntheses of the data include the following:
Global production levels of bauxite based on three data setsGlobal production levels of primary aluminum based on three data setsGlobal production levels of secondary aluminum based on three data setsComparative global production levels of secondary aluminum based on five data setsPrices of primary aluminum in historical US dollars and in US dollars indexed to 2015 values based on four data setsConversion rates for historical US dollars against 2015 valuesIn addition to the preceding global data, extensive pre-1900 data for French, Swiss, and US production levels and French and US prices of primary aluminum are compiled.