Altech secures development order for construction of its high purity alumina plant in Johor

According to a recent report, Altech Chemicals has secured the development order for construction of its high purity alumina plant in Johor, Malaysia. Site establishment works such as hoarding of the entire site, establishment of the site office, and construction of access ways are now thus underway.

Following this, stage 1 construction works will start. The stage 1 construction works include bulk earthworks, construction of retaining walls, and a maintenance workshop. Management said most of the works have been outsourced to German engineering, procurement and construction contractor, the SMS group.

The site layout and building design was finalised in early November last year, based on the recently completed site geotechnical survey, as reported. The final site layout comprises three production buildings for Kaolin Beneficiation, Landeach & Neutralisation and HPA Production & HCL Recycle Plant. There are also four ancillary buildings.

Altech selected the Tanjung Industrial Complex in Johor for the HPA plant based on the significant economic and development benefits, such as the easy availability of key consumables and utilities like hydrochloric acid, limestone, quicklime, and power and natural gas at very competitive prices.

The availability of skilled labour and proximity to an international container port/airports also well sealed the deal for Altech.

Manufacturing in the area will provide investment incentives as well, such as a 5-year tax benefit.

Altech, on completion of the plant, is expected to manufacture 4,500 tonnes of HPA from very pure kaolin clays sourced from a shallow open pit mine near Meckering in WA, which has enough material for about 250 years of production.