How much does it cost to extract aluminium from its raw ore? Also how much does extracted aluminium sell for? I cannot find this anywhere on the internet. I would really appreciate some help.
The biggest cost is the electricity. This is why most Al smelters are located where electricity is cheap. The price of Al metal depends on exactly what form it is in and what the alloy is. Scrap Al is worth very roughly $0.30 per pound. Fabricated Al alloys for aerospace applications sell for much much more. Ultra high purity Al for semiconductors sells for roughly $40 per kg.
These are the points to think about: The high cost of the process because of the huge amounts of electricity it uses. This is so high because to produce 1 mole of aluminium which only weighs 27 g you need 3 moles of electrons. You are having to add a lot of electrons (because of the high charge on the ion) to produce a small mass of aluminium (because of its low relative atomic mass). Energy and material costs in constantly replacing the anodes. Energy and material costs in producing the cryolite, some of which gets lost during the electrolysis. The key cost of the electrolysis and the cost of electricity. This will depend which country you are in, which you don't tell us. If freely available hydroelectric power is available, this makes a huge difference. IF you are in the US, the costs of extracting aluminium or any metal is 70% to 95% of the current market value. Aluminium is selling at about $1500/tonne, then the cost of extracting it can be around $1200/tonne.
