Aluminum may be separated as a halide from ores or from ore residues hitherto considered unusable for aluminum production through conventional processing. Aluminum in the ore is converted to a volatile tri-halide, while iron, always present in such ores or ore wastes, is removed as substantially pure metal. Ferric halide may be formed in a first halogenation at about 700*C1050*C. This is treated in a blast furnace-like reactor to the solid residue from the first halogenation, along with carbon, at a temperature up to 1600*C or higher, to give vaporous AlCl3 or AlCl overhead and molten iron from the base. A single reactor may combine both reactions in one heating for ore solids. AlCl may be disproportioned to give aluminum metal. Other selected steps produce an aluminum halide or aluminum metal from clays, feldspars, oil shales, red muds from current aluminum production wastes, slimes from phosphate manufacture, slags from iron and manganese blast furnace operations, etc., while producing economically and almost quantitatively the other metal values of the ores or ore wastes.