Bauxite

Bauxite, the eponymous name of Baux-de-Provence, is an aluminous and ferruginous clay agglomerate, usually red but sometimes tiger or whitish depending on the content of iron oxides and impurities. ;It was discovered in 1821 by the French geologist Pierre Berthier, who came looking for iron ore in the Alpilles. Following a global competition and local protests, its exploitation was stopped in the Alpilles.