The world’s biggest aluminum (ALF25) makers are once again scrambling to secure the raw materials needed to make one of the most important industrial metals. The material that is in so much demand is alumina – an intermediate product that’s processed from bauxite ore and fed into smelters to make aluminum. Alumina has proved to be very volatile in recent years. It has been affected by everything from sanctions on Russia’s top producer, Rusal, to events caused by climate change. Aluminum producers lacking their own in-house supply are being squeezed, especially since prices for finished aluminu…