Alpha HPA will kick-start its Gladstone development plans with a $27.6 million Precursor Production Facility (PPF) to be built within months.

The PPF is to be constructed on the Gladstone State Development Area site of the company’s planned $308 million high purity alumina plant – the HPA First project.

It will produce more than 200 tonnes per annum of ultra-high purity aluminium precursors for export.

In an announcement today, Alpha HPA said its Board had committed to the construction of the PPF.

Construction is set to start in the last quarter of this year and it is due to be in full commercial production by August next year.

The PPF would provide Alpha with the opportunity to fast-track project cash flows, build market share, strengthen relationships with key customers, and to establish a reputation as a premium producer of high purity aluminium products ahead of the full-scale HPA First plant, it said.

“Alpha is extremely excited to be building this Precursor Production Facility,” managing director Rimas Kairaitis said.

“Our recent market engagement has convinced us there is an immediate global demand for our precursor products, which is likely to grow as decarbonisation trends continue to take effect.

“Alpha’s positive market feedback on the premium nature of our ultra-high purity products combined with the observation that live demand for precursors is considerably influenced by immediate product availability, provides a key motivation for Alpha to proceed with the PPF. “

The construction of the PPF would not interrupt the full-scale project’s schedule, the company said.

Alpha HPA has flagged a 2023 start for large-scale production at the HPA First project, which would produce about 10,000tpa using its own solvent extraction and HPA refining technology.

Alpha has engaged Prudentia Process Consultants, principal engineers to the HPA First project, to deliver the 12-week Front End Engineering and Design (FEED), ahead of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contract, for the PPF.

The PPF will focus on the production and sale of ultra high-purity (5N) aluminium precursor salts, with smaller pre-commercial production of HPA and boehmite.

Applications for the 5N precursor include use in specialty electronic coatings, lithium-ion batteries, mini and micro LEDs, photovoltaics and medical imaging scintillators.

Alpha will continue to source feedstock for the PPF from the supplier to its Brisbane Demonstration Plant.

Once the HPA First plant is commissioned, the PPF will manufacture cathode precursor #2 using aluminium feed directly from the full-scale project.

Alpha has reached agreement with Orica Australia for the supply of key process reagents for the PPF and the offtake of process by-product.