 These early mines simply processed the cryolite for its direct aluminum content and for sale to the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company, which used it to create caustic soda.The 1884 establishment of the Hall-Heroult Process, which depends on the rare cryolite but dramatically improved the extraction of aluminum from bauxite ore, increased the deposit's importance.The Ivittuut mining operations were a major factor in the American occupation of Greenland during World War II.