Research progress on the enrichment of gallium in bauxite

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Due to its high economic and strategic value, gallium (Ga) has been listed as a critical metal in many countries. As most important Ga resources, the exploration of Ga enriched in bauxite has attracted extensive attention globally. In order to improve the level of Ga resource exploration and utilization, it is significant to understand the occurrence state and enrichment mechanism of Ga in bauxite. To clarify the research progress of Ga enrichment in bauxite, the content distribution of global Ga in lateritic bauxite and karstic bauxite were respectively reviewed. Ga content in lateritic bauxite was mainly concentrated at 40–80 ppm with an average value of 60 ppm, while it was at 20–80 ppm with an average value of 59 ppm in karstic bauxite. In addition to Ga in global lateritic bauxite and karstic bauxite, contents of some major elements of Al, Si, Fe, and Ti were also collected to study the function on the enrichment of Ga in bauxite. In lateritic bauxite, Ga almost existed in the form of ion adsorption. In karstic bauxite, Ga predominantly existed in the form of isomorphism in aluminum minerals with small proportion of ion adsorption form on major minerals. This review intends to provide general knowledge for the research progress on the occurrence state and enrichment mechanism of Ga in bauxite, and to induce a prospection for future work.