Identify the ore from which Aluminum is extracted.

Concept

An ore is the naturally occurring mineral from which a metal can be extracted economically. Each metal has its own characteristic principal ore, identified by the metal it yields on processing. For aluminium, the principal commercial ore is bauxite (hydrated aluminium oxide), refined to pure alumina by the Bayer process and then reduced to aluminium metal by the Hall-Heroult electrolytic process.

Applying it here

Match each listed mineral to the metal it characteristically yields, and pick the one whose metal is aluminium. Bauxite is hydrated aluminium oxide and is the worldwide primary source of aluminium, so it is the ore from which aluminium is extracted.

Distinguishing the others

• Malachite is a basic copper carbonate and is an ore of copper, not aluminium.

• Uraninite (pitchblende) is uranium oxide and is the chief ore of uranium.

• Argentite is silver sulphide and is an ore of silver.

Hence the aluminium-bearing ore among the choices is bauxite.