Gibbistic Bauxite Bauxite ore is largely composed of a mixture of hydrous aluminum oxides. Bauxite is the principal ore of aluminum. We currently have volumes of 1mMT per month from Africa. Bauxites vary physically according to the origin and geologic history of their deposits: some deposits are soft, easily crushed, and structureless; some are hard, dense, and pisolitic, or pealike; still others are porous but strong or are stratified or largely pseudomorphic after their parent rock. The laterite type is commonly pisolitic and mottled, with pisolites ranging in size from about 2.5 mm (0.10 inch) to 25 cm (10 inches) or more in diameter.