This holiday season, why not get a mineral every day instead of chocolate? Today’s mineral is Bauxite, find out more about it below..

Wherever you go at this time of year you can’t turn around without being presented with delicious baked treats! Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger are EVERYWHERE and they smell deeeeelicious!

ALL THE CHRISTMAS COOKIES! (Image from Wikipedia)

But in order to shape these yummy delicacies you need cute snowflake, gingerbead men and star shaped cookie cutters. The best cookie cutters are made with aluminium and to find  aluminium for the cutters you need an ore like Bauxite.

Bauxite photo from the MinDat website, taken by Chris Auer.

Bauxite:

Chemical formula: Al(OH)₃
Colour: Shades of brown, pink and orange
System: Amorphous
Hardness (Mohs): 1 – 3
Can you find it in the UK? No

Bauxite is not actually a mineral, but, similar to Monazite, the term describes a group of minerals that represent the primary ore of aluminium. These minerals include Gibbsite, Bohmite and Diaspore and although it is not a particularly attractive mineral is extremely valuable commercially. Unfortunately it isn’t found in the UK (as far as I know – please correct me if I’m wrong!), but you can find it in nearby France!

For more information about Bauxite please visit the MinDat website.