Altech optimises kaolin beneficiation plant location

Altech Chemicals Limited has issued an update on the detailed design work that is currently underway for its proposed high purity alumina (HPA) project. Detailed design commenced in September 2015, following the appointment of General Manager Operations Dr Jingyuan Liu and is being undertaken with the assistance of Simulus Engineering, a Perth based multidiscipline engineering consultancy and M+W Group, the EPCM contractor for the project. The detailed design work also includes consideration of optimisation opportunities for process flow design, plant layout, capital equipment and operating costs.

Kaolin beneficiation

On 29 June 2015, the company announced the positive results of its Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) for the development of a 4,000tpa HPA processing plant at Johor, Malaysia and an associated aluminous clay (kaolin) beneficiation plant at Meckering, Western Australia to provide feedstock for the HPA plant.

The BFS contemplated the on-site beneficiation of mined kaolin material at Meckering, Western Australia. A fourstage wet screening circuit to remove oversized silica was designed, consisting of a drum scrubber, screening, pressure filter and dryer, bagging unit and supporting infrastructure. The plant was designed to produce an upgraded dry kaolin product of ~30% Al2O3. The dry kaolin was to be delivered to Malaysia in containerised shipments of two-tonne bulk bags, initially transported by road from Meckering to the port of Fremantle, Western Australia, then by sea to the Company's proposed HPA plant in Johor, Malaysia.

However, as a result of the current detailed design and optimisation work, the kaolin beneficiation plant will now be located at the Company's proposed HPA plant site in Johor, Malaysia.

Locating the kaolin beneficiation plant in Malaysia will reduce the capital cost of the plant because it results in the proposed dryer, bagging unit and supporting infrastructure not being required. The removal of these items will also simplify the beneficiation process.

The Malaysian kaolin beneficiation plant has been designed to accept raw kaolin from sea containers, which will be tipped directly into a hopper, the requirement for handling of bulk bags at both ends of the beneficiation flow sheet has been removed. There will be an additional oversize quartz stream as a consequence of the beneficiation of kaolin in Malaysia, but the quartz will be sold as an aggregate by-product.

Commenting on the change of location of the kaolin beneficiation plant from Meckering to Malaysia, Altech's managing director Mr Iggy Tan said "identifying the benefits of locating the kaolin beneficiation plant in Malaysia is a credit to the detailed design and optimisation team. The impacts on project NPV will be minimal, however the simplification of the beneficiation flow sheet and the synergies of having all of the major project infrastructure at one site and within one jurisdiction, Malaysia, will deliver both operating and project financing advantages.

Detailed design and optimisation work is ongoing and will continue into the first quarter of 2016, in parallel with our project financing and associated activities".