MHM looks beyond Australia for salt slag processing

Australia – MHM Metals has commissioned a salt slag processing facility near Geelong in the Australian state of Victoria. The plant is designed to process all of the salt slag produced by Alcoa in Australia, as well as aluminium dross and non-salt slags for Sims Metal Management.

Aluminium salt slag is a by-product of the secondary aluminium industry, produced when aluminium scrap is re-melted. MHM’s technology, on which it holds exclusive global rights in perpetuity, separates the slag into its component parts of aluminium metal, aluminium oxide and a salt and potassium chloride blend. All these commodities have a commercial value and there are no residues needing disposal.
Aluminium slag currently goes to landfill, but regulators across the western world, including Australia’s state Environment Protection Authorities, are getting increasingly tough on issuing permits for this.
MHM is now marketing its salt slag processing expertise in the USA, and tests on reprocessing a 350 000-tonne salt slag landfill in the US are well advanced.