Alvance Aluminium anticipates Highland council’s approval for the aluminium recycling plant next to Lochaber smelter

The Highland Council is due next week to come up with a decision on the application to build an aluminium recycling plant that will be able to manage 100,000 tonnes of metal per year.

GFG Alliance’s aluminium arm Alvance, the applicant stated: “The green energy used will help it to draw custom from rival plants that use fossil fuels.”

Sanjeev Gupta led group will build this recycling plant on a 5.0-hectare site near the Lochaber Smelter at Fort William.

The proposal is for the aluminium recycling and billet casting facility that will produce solid blocks of aluminium using a combination of recycled aluminium and primary aluminium from the smelter.

The molten metal from the aluminium smelter would enter the new building at the north end and scrap aluminium brought into the southern portion.  Materials will then be amalgamated within furnaces in the central portion of the building.

The recycled metal would be utilized by Alvance Aluminium in a new casting factory to produce up to 100,000 tonnes annually of long round shapes called billets for use in the construction industry.

Highland Council planning officers have recommended councillors deliver a green signal to the plans at a meeting next week.

The recycling and casting plants have been proposed at a site previously which was planned for an aluminium alloy wheel plant. The factory was to be capable of supplying at least one-fifth of all wheels required by UK vehicle makers.

However, the owners of the Lochaber Smelter said: “There had been a significant decline in car manufacturing and shelved the plan last year.”