ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the aluminum industry to determine whether it too has generated problems and conflicts that have adversely affected US-Canadian relations. It focuses on the aluminum industries of the United States and Canada and examines their similarities and differences in an attempt to identify where their interests are complementary and where conflicting. Bauxite is a generic term encompassing a number of aluminum oxide minerals, the most important of which are gibbsite, a trihydrate, and boehmite and diaspore, both monohydrates. The Bayer process is the refining technology used commercially to produce alumina everywhere except in the U.S.S.R., where alumina is extracted from non-bauxite ores. The production of alumina, like bauxite, has expanded rapidly in the postwar period to accommodate the rising demand for aluminum. The production of alumina and aluminum benefits from economies of scale, and for a long time the size of the aluminum market precluded more than several firms from operating at optimal scale.
