Tasmania is on target to host the southern hemisphere's first production of lucrative aluminium fluoride.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The project appears to have potential to provide an annual revenue stream of about $20 million, and that would be before potential expansion.
The plans for a production facility at Bell Bay were boosted by recent results of chemical analysis from the CSIRO.
ALCORE Limited - an 89 per cent-owned subsidiary of Tasmanian miner Australian Bauxite Limited - said CSIRO laboratory results showed aluminium fluoride produced by its research centre in New South Wales was of commercial chemical grades.
ALCORE said its method involved the world's first production of aluminium fluoride from recycling of smelter waste and low-grade bauxite.
Aluminium fluoride is a key ingredient in the smelting of aluminium metal and reduces electricity consumption in aluminium production.
It is also used by the lithium ion battery industry.
ALCORE aims to start production at Bell Bay at a rate of about 10,000 tonnes per year.
Australian Bauxite said Australasian aluminium smelters imported more than 30,000 tonnes of aluminium fluoride from China in the last year at a cost of about $62 million.
That would put planned initial production from Bell Bay at an estimated revenue of about $20 million per year.
Australian Bauxite earlier this year said it expected the first Bell Bay production module would start with about 50 direct jobs, potentially rising to about 300 if a further four modules were added over time.
"The ALCORE Research Centre is a leading edge laboratory that has enhanced the technology significantly," Australian Bauxite chief executive Ian Levy said.
"We have developed a low-risk plan for the first production module at Bell Bay, Northern Tasmania.
"It is the lowest capital cost strategy and simplest design we have.
"ALCORE is planning to present a feasibility study shortly."