ChemX Materials (ASX:CMX) reports it has commissioned a dedicated High Purity Alumina (HPA) production facility in Perth, Western Australia.
The company says the production plant will focus on providing the critical materials required for electrification and decarbonisation, and it has secured a 1,200m-square warehouse with an adjacent 1,200m-square hardstand external space capable of housing both the HPA Micro Plant and the HiPurA HPA Pilot Plant to be constructed next year.
It also states HPA is a ‘high-value’ critical material used in lithium-ion batteries as a coater ceramic separator providing increased thermal insulation for improved safety, charging and performance when placed between the anode and cathode.
ChemX Materials Managing Director Stephen Strubel said having a dedicated HPA Production facility in Perth operational is a major step forward for the company.
“It provides strategic opportunities to leverage the first class in-house metallurgical expertise at ChemX to produce HPA and further high-value critical materials.
“It provides strategic opportunities to leverage the first class in-house metallurgical expertise at ChemX to produce HPA and further high-value critical materials”
The company will now be able to increase the operational tempo of the organisation as we seek to leverage our networks in supply chains to become a leading Australian producer of critical materials to participate in the energy transition.”
ChemX recent completed relocation reassembly of the Micro Plant and installed a demineralised water system to ensure ‘high’ purity process outcomes, and the Micro Plant will now move through carefully planned staged re-commissioning, aiming to achieve name plate production of 5kg per day of HPA at 4N (99.99%) by late 2022.
The Micro Plant will also be run with internal optimisation and samples despatched to external laboratories for verification analysis on rolling cycles to feed data for final calibration of the purification steps to produce 4N HPA.
Following a steady state of production of 4N HPA, ChemX will begin optimising the process to 5N (99.999%) HPA, used to produce synthetic sapphire, a ‘high-value’ material used in semiconductor manufacturing, optical lenses, LED lights and medical devices.
Upon the successful production of 4N HPA, the company will begin submitting samples to potential customers for early-stage qualification testwork.
ChemX reports the HiPurA HPA processing design is novel technology for which the company applied for patent protection in July 2022, and this technology is independent of mine production and uses a chemical feedstock sourced from Australian suppliers and removes the need for ‘complex’ and ‘expensive’ off-gas reagent and recovery.
It says together, these advantages lower the capital and operating costs of the HiPurA design in comparison with traditional mining dependent feedstocks.
ChemX recently confirmed the potential of the HiPurA HPA technology following a pre-feasibility study (PFS) completed by Primero Group, which confirmed the metallurgical flowsheet design, mass and energy balances with no fatal flaws identified.
The 50tpa Pilot Plant was costed at $2.5 million in line with indian estimates in the company’s prospectus, and ChemX notes the HiPurA HPA technology is scalable and modular, allowing for modifications to be made as per customer requirements and the production of a variety of ‘high-purity’ aluminous based products, and the co-location of the plants allows for further R&D with Pilot Plant output to be fed into the Micro Plant as 4N HPA feedstock to produce 5N HPA.
ChemX reports following detailed work and construction expected to be completed in 2023, it will be able to supply increased quantities of HPA for final stages of product qualification with customers in the lithium-ion battery supply chain.
ChemX is a materials technology company focused on providing critical materials required for electrification and decarbonisation.
The company holds the Kimba Kaolin-REE Project and the Jamieson Tank Manganese Project in the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, as well as the HiPurA Project in Western Australia.
Images: ChemX Materials Ltd & iStock
