DUSHANBE, April 1, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- Construction of two plants for production of aluminum fluoride and cryolite is nearing completion in the Yovon district, Khatlon province, according to Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO), which operates Tajik aluminum smelter.

The plants are reportedly being constructed by TALCO in cooperation with China National Heavy Machinery Corporation.

The plants are being constructed in the framework of a five-year program for Tajik aluminum smelter’s shift to domestic raw materials, which is being implemented in cooperation with Canada’s engineering company, Hatch.

Upon implementation of the program, the plant is expected to run on domestic raw materials for 60 percent.  Currently, TALCO imports some 90 percent of the necessary raw materials and equipment from abroad.  The company imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.  Annually, TALCO spends more than 250 million U.S. dollars for shipping alumina alone.

The project for Tajik aluminum smelter’s shift to domestic raw materials provides for establishment of Tajik chemical and metallurgical cooperation that will include enterprises for production of caustic soda, cryolite, aluminum fluoride as well as the cement plant and the anthracite-processing enterprise.

The program is expected to create more than 10,000 new jobs and its expenses are expected to be repaid in three years.  A total cost of this project is 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. 

Construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975.  On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company.  TALCO is now one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world and provides up to 70% of the country’s foreign currency earnings, consuming nearly 40% of the country’s electrical power.

Aluminum fluoride is an inorganic compound used primarily in the production of aluminum. This colorless solid can be prepared synthetically but also occurs in nature.  Aluminum fluoride is an important additive for the production of aluminum by electrolysis.  Together with cryolite lowers the melting point to below 1000 °C and increases the conductivity of the solution. 

Cryolite was historically used as an ore of aluminum and later in the electrolytic processing of the aluminum-rich oxide ore bauxite.  The difficulty of separating aluminum from oxygen in the oxide ores was overcome by the use of cryolite as a flux to dissolve the oxide minerals.  Pure cryolite itself melts at 1012 °C), and it can dissolve the aluminum oxides sufficiently well to allow easy extraction of the aluminum by electrolysis. Substantial energy is still needed for both heating the materials and the electrolysis, but it is much more energy-efficient than melting the oxides themselves.  Now, as natural cryolite is too rare to be used for this purpose, synthetic sodium aluminum fluoride is produced from the common mineral fluorite.