nonferrous metallurgy - a branch of industry, including production of non-ferrous metals and production of these metals and alloys. Deposits of non-ferrous metals are shown on a map of "Mineral Resources".
most common non-ferrous metals are grouped into:
- light metals (aluminum, titanium, magnesium);
- heavy metals (copper, lead, zinc, tin, nickel);
- Precious metals (gold, silver, platinum);
- alloying metals (tungsten, vanadium, molybdenum).
Light metals are widely used for the production of aerospace equipment, marine vessels and equipment for chemical plants. Demand for them is growing. The most common in the crust are rocks containing aluminum. Therefore, the production of aluminum is the main non-ferrous metallurgy. Raw material for aluminum is bauxite. Production of aluminum consists of two stages. First - to alumina (aluminum oxide), gravitates to the areas of bauxite mining. Second - smelting primary aluminum from alumina by electrolysis. Production of aluminum metal rather energy-intensive, so it tends to electric power.
Alumina is concentrated in Australia, Jamaica, China, Brazil and Russia - countries with a resource base. Production of aluminum metal - in Russia, Australia, China and countries that smelt aluminum from imported raw materials (Japan, Italy, Japan, Norway, Germany, Bahrain, UAE). Among exporting countries, Canada ranked first and produces the least expensive aluminum.
Melting of heavy metal tends to raw material sources. Copper, tin and nickel are mined, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In these countries, established the initial stages of production of the metal: extraction, refining, smelting metal bullion, the so-called dirty production. Final stages of production (refining, obtaining alloys and rolled products) is concentrated in developed countries (U.S., Japan and Western Europe).
lead-zinc industry as a raw material used polymetallic ores. The largest producers of zinc and lead are the USA, Canada, Japan, France, Mexico, Peru, Australia.
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