ABx Group’s 83 per cent-owned subsidiary Alcore has been boosted by the arrival of the second $2.7 million instalment of funding from the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative.
A total of $5.7 million of a committed $7.5 million has now been received under the scheme, which was established to assist Australian manufacturing projects commercialise and integrate with domestic and international value chains.
Management says the funding will go towards the company’s planned $16.4 million aluminium bath recycling plant at Bell Bay in Tasmania and will also be used to support its pilot plant on the NSW Central Coast.
The company is developing a process to recover fluorine from an aluminium smelter waste product to produce hydrogen fluoride. The plan is for the hydrogen fluoride to then go to a separate commercial plant, which will react it to produce aluminium fluoride – a high-value chemical essential for aluminium smelting.
ABx Group chief executive officer Mark Cooksey said: “Additional funding from the MMI is a fantastic development validating the important work that has been completed to date as well as providing further stimulus to accelerate activities.”
Last week, Alcore revealed it had finalised the preliminary engineering design phase for its pilot facility on the NSW Central Coast and had made a crucial move forward by ordering a laboratory reactor.
The operation is rapidly taking shape through the finalisation of the plant capacity and general layout, comprehensive process flow, piping and instrumentation diagrams, raw material storage and waste management plans, process safety and control philosophies and sizing of major equipment.
Aluminium fluoride is typically used in the production of aluminium in welding applications and in ceramic glazes and enamels. While its demand has been largely influenced by the building and construction industry, there is also a growing demand for it in sectors such as food and beverage and pharmaceuticals for packaging.
The company says some 90 per cent of aluminium fluoride is traditionally produced by reacting aluminium hydroxide, an intermediate form of alumina, with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride gas that is produced from fluorspar and sulfuric acid.
In April, Australia's Department of Industry, Science and Resources forecast another record year of resources export revenue in its quarterly report. The agency predicted annual exports of copper, alumina, lithium and nickel will reach $49 billion by 2027-28.
That’s surely a big enough pie for ABx to grab a decent slice.
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By Steve Kaless
