I've been googling this for a few days but have not found much definitive data yet. What I want to know is a rough timeline of bauxite mining in South America. Central America would be good too.
Bauxite is aluminum ore, the only economically mineable ore of aluminum known. Bauxite seems to be a relatively rare substance. AFAIK there was only 1 major bauxite mine in the USA, a town in Arkansas which they named Bauxite!
I found this map, which shows current countries that produce bauxite and the production numbers. It does not mean, however, that some other countries used to produce bauxite. It also does not show historical production per country.
I also looked at the websites of a few companies like Alcoa, in the hopes that they might have a history section specifically for each country or region. No luck. I also tried googling phrases like "What was the first bauxite mine in Brazil" without luck either.
What I'm looking for is the data for early mines, the first mines and when were they opened, and preferably yearly production tables and known reserves.