How Aluminum is Obtained
The method of obtaining aluminum metal by the electrolysis of alumina dissolved in cryolite was discovered in 1886. It was also discovered about the same time in France. Cryolite, a natural ore found in Greenland, is no longer widely used in commercial production, but has been replaced by an artificial mixture of sodium, aluminum, and calcium fluorides. To make obtain aluminum, sodium and calcium fluorides are mixed with Aluminum because it is not found free in nature.
Aluminum can now be produced from clay, but the process is not economically feasible at present. Aluminum is the most abundant metal to be found in the earth's crust (8.3%), but it is never found free in nature. In addition to the minerals mentioned above, it is found in granite and in many other common minerals.