“Aluminium producers are eager for alternative applications for bath, to avoid the unpalatable options of on-site storage or landfill”, Dr Mark Cooksey, CEO of ABx Group

Dr Mark Cooksey is the CEO of ABx Group, which he joined in early 2020. He previously held process improvement and process development leadership positions with Rio Tinto, GE and CSIRO, the national science agency of Australia. Dr Cooksey has focused on process innovation throughout his 25-year career and he has extensive experience in developing and commercialising new processes in the minerals industry, particularly in the aluminium value chain.

AlCircle: Congratulations on being appointed as CEO of ABx Group. Could you share Alcore’s success story of producing commercial grade aluminium fluoride from smelter waste products? How is it important to the aluminium smelter?

Dr Mark Cooksey: Sodium enters the smelting process as an impurity in the alumina. Aluminium fluoride must be regularly added to the process to maintain the correct bath chemistry. There is no substitute. A lack of aluminium fluoride for even a week would cause serious disruption to the smelting process. Australia is the largest aluminium-producing region in the world without local aluminium fluoride production.