In the Earth's Crust, in every million atoms, around 82 000 of
them are Aluminum, (82 000 ppm1 ), by weight. This is around 8 %
or almost one in every 12 atoms. This places aluminum amongst
the world's most abundant elements, behind only Oxygen and
Silicon. This high level of abundance is not replicated for
aluminum in the oceans where it is only 0.01 ppm. Despite being
present of Earth in such incredibly vast quantities on Earth,
the metal never occurs on it's own in nature. Instead of
existing free like Gold and Silver, due to its higher level of
reactivity, it is always chemically bonded in compounds when it
normally occurs. The most common of these compounds is Bauxite,
or Aluminum Ore which contains large quantities of Aluminum
Oxide. Typically this is a combination of Aluminum and Oxygen in
the formula Al2 O. There are also the impurities Fe2 , amongst
others, present in Bauxite, which have to be removed in the
Bayer Process in the production of pure aluminum. Bauxite
reserves are spread across the worl