Hi mates,
this is an article from a newspaper in Saxonia (Date: 28.01.2020), named "Tageblatt Hoyerswerda", a partial edition of the "Sächsische Zeitung" (Saxion Newspaper, Dresden).
I tried to translate it to a certain extent. One try, sorry in advance...
First Malaysia, then Schwarze Pumpe
The Australian company Altech is planning a plant for purest aluminium oxide in the industrial park. Schwarze Pumpe. High-purity alumina could come from the Schwarze Pumpe industrial park in the not too distant future.
The German subsidiary of the Australian company Altech Chemicals is currently in the process of concluding an option agreement for an area of 13 hectares directly on the Südstrasse. "This is going very well," says Uwe Ahrens, member of the board of Altech Advanced Materials AG, based in Heidelberg. Among other things, he has come to Germany from Malaysia for talks with the TAGEBLATT. Ahrens, who was born in Hesse, has lived in Asia for a decade and a half. In Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Altech is currently building a so-called HPA plant. The abbreviation stands for the English term High Purity Alumina. An identical plant is now being considered for Schwarze Pumpe. The construction in the industrial park is 90 percent certain, says Ahrens:
"When the Malaysian plant is up and running, it will be one hundred percent."
Kaolin instead of bauxite
Aluminum oxide in its purest form is the basis for, among other things, separators in lithium-ion batteries or for synthetic sapphire glass, which is used, for example, in the manufacture of watches or LED lights. "Due to the boom in smart phones and electric cars, demand is increasing disproportionately," the web portal wallstreet.online reported a few days ago. Common practice, says Uwe Ahrens, is the production of aluminum oxide from bauxite. As we know from Lauta, among others, this produces red mud, which is very difficult to get rid of when in doubt. Altech, on the other hand, relies on kaolin, i.e. alumina, as known from Caminau, for example. The goal of processing in the HPA plants mentioned above is a purity of 99.9 percent. "We are better and cheaper," says Uwe Ahrens, commenting on Altech's production process. The company has its plant in Malaysia planned and built by a German company. The SMS Group is based in Düsseldorf. It describes itself as "the world's leading partner in the metal industry". And this is not the only connection to Germany. Altech Chemicals Limited from Subiaco near Perth in Australia is 21 percent owned by German shareholders, and the German subsidiary even owns 70 percent. For Johor Bahru, there is a loan from the Frankfurt development bank KfW, which is owned by the federal government and the federal states. Altech's HPA plant in Asia, for which construction started in August 2018, costs a total of 400 million US dollars: "In Saxony it will be a little less," says manager Ahrens about the plant prize. The idea is to supply the Asian market from Malaysia and the European market from Schwarze Pumpe.
Guests from the world of politics
The industrial park on the Saxon-Brandenburg border is currently attracting increasing attention, among other things in connection with government plans to cushion the economic consequences of the coal phase-out. Only last week, Saxony's Regional Development Minister Thomas Schmidt (CDU) and the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Elisa Ferreira (Partido Socialista), were guests at Schwarze Pumpe on two consecutive days. Altech also came to the industrial park via the political route. According to Uwe Ahrens, it was selected in the course of a three-stage site analysis.
Advantages of the industrial park
First, Germany prevailed over France. The federal government then recommended the new federal states. "We looked around in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia," said Ahrens. The state government in Dresden had shown interest both in the technology and in research. Altech has now found a partner in the Dresden Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems. In September, wallstreet.online reported on an invitation from the Saxon state government to Altech: "The letter specifically mentions the Schwarze Pumpe location. A few days earlier, Altech manager Jingyuan Liu had already attended the topping-out ceremony for the new business incubator, which could become an immediate Altech neighbor in the industrial park, so to speak. Uwe Ahrens says that factors such as costs, logistics, the availability of energy and personnel as well as support are important for the company. "It has gone well for us," he assesses with regard to Schwarze Pumpe, citing as advantages of the industrial park its road connection, the rail connection and the availability of electricity and Internet access. There are competitive conditions for all this. The plans for the plant in Malaysia envisage it going into operation next year. After that, Altech could turn its attention to Lusatia. Around 150 employees will probably be needed, most of them process engineers. 
To cushion the already decided coal phase-out, the federal government will provide
40 billion euros in the next few years ....
The Lausitzer could organize a nice chunk of money for ATC Germany ...
However, I am very much in favor of the 2nd not before 1st step to do.
No getting bogged down in the limited human and financial resources!
Johor must have a clear priority.
The basis for further plants is only laid if it is successful there. Finally get around to ballet and funding in dry towels...
DYOR Greetings from Old Germany
Greenfoxi
(20min delay)
