Altech receives approval from Malaysian Government for its alumina plant in Johor

The Malaysian Government finally gives a nod to Altech Chemicals for initiating a high purity alumina plant in Johor, with production capacity 4,500 tonnes per annum. Johor is located at the southern tip of mainland Malaysia.

This news arrived following the last week’s news of Altech which said the company secured a suitable 4 hectares site for the plant in Malaysia’s Tanjung Langsat Industrial complex in Johor.

The company has already laid down $5.1 million to secure a 30-year lease at the site and kept an option open for renewing to another 30 years.

Altech will firstly, secure high purity kaoline product from its massive deposit near Meckering and then transport it to Malaysia for processing into a low contaminant alumina stream for industrial uses.

According to Altech, the demand for HPA is already on the rise and likely to grow more than double to nearly 76,000 tonnes per annum in the next five years.

The company has chosen Malaysia for building the plant because of its strategic location, close to the lucrative HPA markets in Singapore and China. The availability of consumable chemicals at low cost and cheap power has also added two key reasons behind the choice.

Producing high-quality alumina product, which currently generates US$27,000 per tonne, is the main target of the company. Altech says its studies show a payback on the project in just less than four years, based on a long-term sale price of US$26,900 per tonne.