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Ore Body
In traditional extractive metallurgy, the raw material used to produce a metal is an
ore mined from the earth. The ore contains minerals, chemical compounds that
include the desired metallic element. It also contains other chemical compounds that
do not include the metallic element; these are known as gangue minerals. The ore
mineral contains impurity elements in addition to the metallic element. These must
be chemically separated from the metal during the extraction process.
In aluminum recycling, the ore body consists of scrap metal found on the ground,
rather than in it. However, the similarities are greater than what might appea ...