Why is it difficult to extract titanium and aluminium from their ores?
913792
I found a very informative essay at the below address, which covers the removal of Alumina from Its Bauxite Ore.  The process is very complex because Alumina is not actually found in its raw state as part of the Bauxite compound.  Bauxite is heated and then through a process of chemical electrolysis alumina is extracted and forms aluminium.  More precise explanation can be found at below address.     \n\nhttp://www.patana.ac.th/parents/curriculum/Chemistry/units/LR803.html
620786
Looks like it is separated out by hand.  The ore is passed under an ultraviolet light in a darkened area.
991332
also spelled Aluminium chemical element, a lightweight, silvery-white metal of main Group IIIa (boron group) of the periodic table. Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element in the Earth's crust and the most widely used nonferrous metal. Because of its chemical activity,aluminum never occurs in the metallic form in nature, but its compounds are present to a greater or lesser extent in almost all rocks, vegetation, and animals. Aluminum is concentrated in the outer 10 miles (16 km) of the Earth's crust, of which it constitutes about 8 percent by weight; it is exceeded in amount only by oxygen and silicon.\n\nOccurrence, uses, and properties.\n\nAluminum occurs in igneous rocks chiefly as aluminosilicatesin feldspars, feldspathoids, and micas; in the soil derived from them as clay; and upon further weathering as bauxite and iron-rich laterite. Bauxite, a mixture of hydrated aluminum oxides, is the principal aluminum ore. Crystalline aluminum oxide (emery, corundum), which occurs in a few igneous rocks, is mined as anatural abrasive or in its finer varieties as rubies and sapphires. Aluminum is present in other gemstones, such as topaz, garnet, and chrysoberyl. Of the many other aluminum minerals, alunite and cryolite have some commercial importance.\n\nCrude aluminum was isolated (1825) by  Hans Christian Ørsted by reducing aluminum chloride with potassium amalgam.  Sir Humphry Davy had prepared (1809) an iron-aluminum alloy by electrolyzing fused alumina (aluminum oxide) and had already named the element aluminum; the word later was modified to aluminium in England and some other European countries. A German chemist,  Friedrich Wöhler, using potassium metal as the reducing agent, produced aluminum powder (1827) and small globules of the metal (1845) from which he was able to determine some of its properties.\n\nThe new metal was introduced to the public (1855) at the Paris Exposition at about the time that it became available (insmall amounts at great expense) by the sodium reduction of molten aluminum chloride. When electric power became relatively plentiful and cheap, almost simultaneously  Charles Martin Hall in the United States and  Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult in France discovered (1886) the modern method of commercially producing aluminum: electrolysis of purified alumina (Al2O3) dissolved in molten cryolite (Na3AlF6). During the 1960s aluminum moved into first place, ahead of copper, in world production of nonferrous metals. For more specific information about the mining, refining, and production of aluminum, see Industries, Extraction and Processing: Aluminum . \n\nAluminum is added in small amounts to certain  metals to improve their properties for specific uses, as in aluminum bronzes and most magnesium-base alloys; or, for aluminum-base alloys, moderate amounts of other metals andsilicon are added to aluminum. The metal and its alloys are used extensively for aircraft construction, building materials, consumer durables (refrigerators, air conditioners, cooking utensils), electrical conductors, and chemical and food-processing equipment.\n\nPure aluminum (99.996 percent) is quite soft and weak; commercial aluminum (99.0 to 99.6 percent pure) with smallamounts of silicon and iron is hard and strong. Ductile and highly malleable, aluminum can be drawn into wire or rolled into thin foil. The metal is only about one-third as dense as ironor copper. Though chemically active, aluminum is nevertheless highly corrosion-resistant because in air a hard, tough oxide film forms on its surface.\n\nAluminum is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. Its thermal conductivity is about one-half that of copper; its electrical conductivity, about two-thirds. It crystallizes in the face-centred cubic structure. All natural aluminum is the stable isotope aluminum-27. Metallic aluminum and its oxide and hydroxide are nontoxic.\n\nAluminum is slowly attacked by most dilute acids and rapidly dissolves in concentrated
628272
There's a few problems with titanium and the shuttle\n\n- the shuttle was designed decades ago, titanium would not have been a viable solution for a shuttle fleet at that time.\n\n- aluminum alloys are anywhere from 30% to 50% lighter than titanium which makes a tremendous difference in launch weight and a cost-to-orbit dollar figure.\n\n- titanium is notoriously difficult to work with.  The time and expertise that it takes to manufacture and weld titanium would have signficantly increased the cost of the shuttle fleet.\n\n\nSo that probably best answers why titanium wasn't used.\n\nThe answer to the second question .. 'would titantium have lasted long enough to make a difference?"  .. is 'Yes, titanium most likely would have made a difference ... but probably only a slight one."\n\nThe maximum temperatures reached during reentry are about 2300 degrees F along the nose and leading edges of the wing.  It's in these areas that the special RCC (reinforced carbon-carbon) tiles are used and where a hole was punctured by foam.\n\nThe melting point of titanium is 3135 degrees F.  So it would not have melted the way that the aluminum frame did. However, there would still have been issues with control wiring, hydraulics for control surfaces, hydraulics for the wheel, the landing gear and wheel itself, etc.  Not all of these components could have been manufactured from titanium.  The shuttle may not have disintegrated in mid-air, but it probably would have flown out of control, or impacted the earth, or cartwheeled without one of its landing gear, etc.
1115500
they send thousands of tons of old PCs overseas and nothing is done with that material. if you want to get into something worth while get into aluminum. the price of that is real high right now.
1087127
I'll tell you and won't kill you.\n\nBut don't even think of trying this at home.\n\nThe ore (found in rocks, mines, mountains) contains a couple types (isotopes) of uranium, mainly  U-235 (the one for nuclear fuel) and U-238 (depleted uranium, for armor piercing rounds).\n\nThese have different weights, so you can use a centrifuge (same as the spinner that seperates blood cells from plasma based on weight) to seperate the lighter atoms of U-235 from the heavier U-238. Thus all the fuss about who may or may not be buying aluminum tubes in the middle east to make centrifuges.
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The process of recovering gold from electronics circuits is relatively simple, but also quite expensive to set up.\n\nEquipment required includes a DC power source capable of delivering several amperes of current at approximately 12 to 100 VDC.  ( A DC Arc Welding Power supply will work well here. )\n\nThen the material containing the gold to be extracted must be crushed.  Crushing multi-layer fiberglass circuit boards is difficult, but it must be done to expose as much of the gold as possible.\n\nA solution of water and some Gold Salt should be mixed.  Gold Sulfate is probably the cheapest, but it is STILL very expensive.  The solution should be in the range of 0.5 gram per litre.\n\nObtain a tank or container made of conductive metal.  Copper is best.  Place the crushed material in the tank,\nPour in the Gold Salt solution until crushed material is completely covered. Attach the POSITIVE anode of the power supply to the tank.  Attach the NEGATIVE cathode of the powersupply to a small piece of gold wire or gold goin or jewelry ( Just a seed to get the thing started . ) And immerse this negative lead in the solution, being careful NOT to let it touch the tank or the crushed material.\n\nTurn on the power...And walk way...The Gold from the crushed material will be 'deposited' on the Cathode gradually over time.  The more current you are able to safely supply without burning something up, the faster the process will be.
682948
The latest technology is bio extraction using plants and microbes to extract gold from the source rocks.\n\nI suggest that you go in for cyanide method. Not free cyanides but in the complexed form.
165233
You can't mine argon because it is a gas. It is present as one of the minor components in air. Production of argon, better yet, extraction of argon is by distillation of air that has been liquefied.  It is inert and denser than air. I think most industrialized  countries produce argon since it is used in industrial processes and in scientific work.
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The only renewable mineral deposit that I saw I was in Andes (it was called 'salar '). The miners work this mine periodically (harvest), therefore it had thermal sources. This sources , deposit (all the time)  thermal waters, with same kind of minerals solved in it.\n\nRenewable mineral resources on to other planets? I don't know!
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Copper is a tricky one, as there appears to be true demand from China and not that many new ways of digging up significantly more ore.  It might be that people who rely on copper decide to find ways to get around using copper.  Maybe aluminum cable instead?\n\nIn the case of zinc, there is a special price level maybe 10% or so above where it is now, where it is worth melting US pennies (which are 97.5% zinc).  At this price the zinc and copper in pennies becomes worth more than one cent per penny, plus the energy needed to melt it down.  There will then be a huge amount of illegal melting of pennies and demand will be satisfied for awhile.\n\nIn summary I think copper might be higher, but there is a lot of uncertainty due to the various things that could happen, such as a decrease in copper demand.  And zinc price could be limited by penny melting.  I wouldn't invest much in this area personally.
1109002
the ores of aluminium are\n1>bauxite\n2>gibsite\n3> cryolite\n4>diaspore \nand so on......................................
49712
The ground. Bauxite is mined and the aluminum separated from it using a electro-chemical process.
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Copper can be extracted from its ore by:\n\n1. Traditional mining\n (a) underground - sinking a vertical shaft into the Earth to an appropriate depth and driving horizontal tunnels into the ore.\n(b) open pit  - 90% of ore is mined by this method. Ores near the surface can be quarried after removal of the surface layers.\n\n2. Leaching\n\nThe ore is treated with dilute sulphuric acid. This trickles slowly through the ore dissolving copper to form copper sulphate. The copper is recovered by electrolytic refining. Advantages of this process are:\n\n    * much less energy is use than in traditional mining\n    * no waste gases are given off\n    * it can be used on ores with as little as 0.1% copper - for this reason, leaching extraction is growing in importance.\n\nA typical ore contains only 0.5% to 2.0% copper. \n\nConcentrating the ore :-\n\nThe ore is crushed, ground and then enriched (concentrated) by Froth Flotation.\n\nThe powdered ore is mixed with a special paraffin oil which makes the copper mineral particles water repellent. It is then fed into a bath of water containing a foaming agent which produces a kind of bubble bath.\n\nWhen jets of air are forced up through the bath, the water repellent copper mineral particles are picked up by the bubbles of foam. They float to the surface making a froth. The unwanted waste rock (gangue) falls to the bottom and is removed.\n\nThe froth is skimmed off the surface and the enriched ore (mainly the copper mineral) is taken away for roasting. The mixture of water, foaming agent and paraffin is recycled.\n\nAfter this stage the enriched ore now contains about 25% copper by mass.\n\nAlso check other details at  -\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_mining
918243
Titanium (III) sulfite (or sulphite, if you wish, but it is not IUPAC)
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Aluminium production is situated close to bauxite mines and where electricity is cheap. Bauxite is the ore of Al and a lot of electricity is needed to make Al.\n\nBenefits: Extraction unnecessary, a lot of power is saved.\n\nDisadvantages: This Al is not virgin and there fore contains a lot of residual stress.
376975
what kind of expirience on aluminium you want?...