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How are Aluminium conductors made?

Time:

05 Jan,2026

Mining Aluminium

The most common source of aluminium is within a sedimentary rock called bauxite. It's extracted from the ground, consisting mainly of aluminium oxide and other minerals. Bauxite is currently the main source for aluminium, with some of the major reserves being present in countries like Australia, Brazil, China, Guinea, and India. Bauxite can come in various consistencies and colours - white, yellow, green, and tan - but it's mostly associated with being a reddish rock, from dull scarlet to a flaming red due to the increased iron oxides.

Extraction – The Bayer Process

Once the bauxite has been mined it has to be refined to create pure aluminium, processing the raw material into aluminium oxide (aka alumina). This is achieved with a method called the Bayer process: by heating and pressurising the bauxite, and adding sodium hydroxide, the process separates out the aluminium oxide from the wider bauxite.

The aluminium oxide is then smelted: heating with a reducing agent to remove the oxygen from the ore, leaving pure aluminium. At this point, the pure aluminium (which is generally around 99.8% pure) is moulded into ingots, and sold onto companies to use in manufacturing.

Aluminium Conductors

To turn that aluminium ingot into a wire for use in cables, a process called wire drawing is used. Drawing involves pulling the metal through a die which incrementally reduces the diameter of the metal, while also increasing its length. By drawing the metal through increasingly small dies, the aluminium can eventually be drawn into a thin, flexible wire – which can then be used as the aluminium conductors in electrical cables.

Beyond conductors, aluminium has other uses in cables: providing mechanical protection for cables in the form of aluminium wire armour (AWA). It is used specifically on single core cables to prevent induced current in the armour - a current which reach a level that could in itself be fatal.