Altech Chemicals Ltd (ASX:ATC) has secured a 30 year lease over a site in Johor Bahru for its proposed high purity alumina (HPA) plant.
Johor is a highly sought after state for project development in southern Malaysia, linked to Singapore by causeway and is the only state in Malaysia with three ports and an international airport for cargo.
It is also a catchment for skilled labour, prized by companies as a site for operation with a proximity to an international container sea-port and international airports of Johor Bahru and Singapore.
Altech has previously flagged it had reserved the land with Johor Corporation which is in a section of the industrial complex that is set aside for chemical facilities.
The plant location in the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex also has the ready availability of required consumables such as hydrochloric acid, limestone, quicklime, electrical power and natural gas, at highly competitive prices.
Johor has a growing English-speaking workforce, supportive government policies with attractive tax incentives and low inflation rate.
Johor has the largest concentration of the world’s leading manufacturers and exporters of electronic products such as semiconductors and artificial sapphires; solar panel and glass products; textiles and rubber and wood products.
HPA plant
Feedstock for the HPA plant will be sourced from the company’s 100% owned kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia.
A total of 41,000 tonnes of alumina rich kaolin will be containerised and shipped via the port of Fremantle, Western Australia to the Tanjung Pelepas container port, Johor, Malaysia.
Beneficiation of the kaolin will be undertaken at Tanjung Langsat, with the resultant benign silica sand residue of 36,000 tonnes per annum sold as a by-product to local businesses such as brickworks and/or cement plants.
Operating costs for the proposed HPA plant in Malaysia are forecast to be 40% lower compared than an equivalent plant in Western Australia.
In addition, the shipping of the final HPA product from the Tanjung Pelepas international sea container port to nearby Asian markets will provide both cost and delivery time advantages.
Proactive Investors is a global leader reporting financial news, media, research and hosts events for listed emerging growth companies and investors across four continents.