High purity alumina produced in WA pilot plant

Perth materials technology group FYI Resources has successfully completed the operation of its pilot plant at Welshpool in Western Australia, producing high purity alumina (HPA) tailored to end users in the LED and lithium-ion battery markets.

The company, which plans a kaolin mine at Cadoux, WA and a processing plant at Kwinana south of Perth, used the pilot plant to improve the proposed production flowsheet and develop product offering specific criteria such as crystal sizing, crystal surface area and specific gravity ranges.

It has also improved certain remnant deleterious material tolerances, with the next step analysis of production samples at EAG Laboratories in New York.

FYI managing director Roland Hill said: “The trial was a culmination of process improvements noted from previous piloting and the objective of targeting the HPA end product to specifications stipulated by several prospective off-take groups.”

HPA is a high value, versatile material used in lithium-ion battery technologies as a coating for separators.

The company has conducted a definitive feasibility study on its integrated mine and processing project which will produce 8,000 tonnes per annum of HPA over 25 years, and is now in discussions with financiers.

Picture: FYI Resources

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