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Highlights
- Calix Ltd. will develop mid-stream demonstration plant at Pilgangoora project.
- Alpha HPA received first grant of US $6.82 million to expand production capability of Pre-cursor Production Facility
- Highfield Resources confirmed compelling economics of Muga project through Feasibility study.
Chemical industry is very diverse and fragmented into several sectors like basic chemicals, resins, petrochemicals, plastics/polymers, agrichemicals, biochemicals, paint, coatings, etc. The chemical industry is facing challenges from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Covid lockdowns in China and disruptions in supply chain. One big factor is prices of crude oil, as a lot of chemical products are based on fossil fuels.
Chemical industry can play a major role in sustainable development via innovative designs, processing, creation, use and disposal of substances. The four trends which drive chemical industry are: mergers & acquisitions, government regulations, investments and digital transformation.
As per Market Research Future, the specialty chemicals market will grow with a compounded annual growth rate of 4% to reach US $900 billion by end of the decade.
Many chemical stocks listed in ASX like Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Orica Ltd. (ORI), Calix Ltd. (CXL), First Graphene Ltd. (FGR), etc. Let us see the recent updates of some ASX listed chemical stocks:
Calix Ltd. (ASX:CXL)
Calix Limited is driven by motivation of solving global challenges. The efforts are focused on advanced batteries, biotech, carbon dioxide mitigation, sustainable processing and water. The company deals in the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, cement, food & drink manufacturing, marine coatings, water utilities and winery.
Calix recently entered into joint venture agreement with Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) to develop a mid-stream demonstration plant at Pilgangoora project to produce lithium salts. Calix’s patented calcination technology will be used for value addition. The purpose is to lower production cost, reduce intensity of carbon energy and reduce the logistics involved in waste product.
Upon the successful demonstration of calcination technology, Pilbara will try for commercialization of the process. The parties have progressed with engineering design and feasibility studies for the demonstration plant.
Calix subsidiary Leilac signed a new global license agreement with CEMEX, a global building materials company. It allows CEMEX to use direct separation technology to capture carbon dioxide at low costs. CEMEX is trying to scale up Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage projects by three front end engineering (FEED) studies.
Alpha HPA Ltd. (ASX:A4N)
Alpha HPA is Australia based specialty metals and technology company listed in ASX. The company aims to produce ultra-high purity aluminium products to contribute towards sustainable development. The products of the company are ultra high purity alumina, ultra boehmite, ultra aluminium nitrate, ultra alumina sulfate, ultra gamma alumina. These products are used in electronics, optics, solid-state lighting industry and lithium-ion battery industry.
Data: ASX as on 29 December 2022
Alpha HPA received a sum of US $6.82 million as the part of US $15.5 million grants under the Federal Government’s Critical Minerals Development Program (CMDP). The funds will be applied towards expanding and enhancing the production capacity of Pre-cursor Production Facility (PPF).
Recently Alpha HPA provided an update on its HPA First Project. The PPF produced 3300 kg of aluminium nitrate and also reached a production rate of 800 kg per day.
Highfield Resources Ltd. (ASX:HFR)
ASX listed Highfield Resources is a potash manufacturing company. The company has flagship low cost project in Spain and is focused on its construction after receiving Mining Concession last year. Muga project covers an area of 80 km2 in Navarra and Aragon.
Highfield Resources announced that Muga Potash Mine received the authorization to build process plant on non-urbanised land from the government of Navarra.
The company also shared that feasibility study reconfirmed the compelling economics of the Muga project. The production is planned for 1,000,000 tonnes per annum of Muriate of Potash (MOP) over the mine life of 30 years.
Image: © Slidezero | Megapixl.com
NeuRizer Ltd. (ASX:NRZ)
South-Australian based company Neurizer is responsible for developing NeuRizer Urea Project (NRUP). NeuRizer claims to be the first carbon neutral producer of urea in Australia. NRUP aims to produce 1 mtpa urea fertilizer initially, which will be scaled up to 2 mtpa.
Recently, the Australian government declared NRUP as the major project. South Australian government granted exclusive rights for negotiating rail access between Leigh Creek and Port Augusta.
NeuRizer announced that NRUP will be the first facility in the world which will not utilize the cooling water. The planned 3D seismic campaign and drilling areas have been finalized.
Hazer Group Ltd. (ASX:HZR)
Hazer Group is ASX-listed technology development company. The company is undertaking commercialization of HAZER process which it claims to be a low-emission hydrogen and graphite production process. It uses iron ore as catalyst to effectively convert natural gas and other methane feedstocks.
Hazer signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. last month. They will conduct an initial market survey of application of HAZER process in steel making and chemical industries.
