Clough wins aluminium contract

Perth-based engineering group Clough has secured a design and construction contract with ASX-listed Australian Bauxite for an aluminium fluoride production plant in NSW.

Clough will build a recycling plant for Australian Bauxite subsidiary Alcore, where by-products from aluminium smelters will be converted into aluminium fluoride.

The aluminum fluoride can be sold back to the smelters as an essential electrolyte for smelting.

Alcore said the production plant would be the simplest and lowest cost method to make aluminium fluoride.

The subsidiary is planning to convert low grade bauxite worth $50 per tonne into a suite of products worth more than $800/t.

Chief operating officer Phillip Hall said Alcore was now fully resourced on technology.

“Clough is an ideal engineer for Alcore’s transition from the lab research stage to its first commercial plant,” he said.

“Clough’s long-term association with this technology augurs well for good teamwork.”

Alcore operates a recently-built, $2.5 million laboratory in Berkley Vale in NSW, where it refines bauxite and its components to produce test samples of aluminium fluoride and co-products