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    ABx hydrogen fluoride pilot at Bell Bay: process and supply notes for engineers

    March 30, 2026|

    Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

    ABx hydrogen fluoride pilot at Bell Bay: process and supply notes for engineers

    First reported on Australian Mining

    30 Second Briefing

    ABx Group has progressed its hydrogen fluoride (HF) pilot plant at Bell Bay, Tasmania, positioning the facility near deep-water export infrastructure at Bell Bay port and the state’s existing hydro-powered industrial precinct. The project targets HF production from locally sourced feedstock rather than imported acids, aiming to supply high-purity HF for rare earths separation and advanced materials. For process engineers and metallurgists, the move signals potential domestic HF availability for leach circuits and fluorine-based reagents, reducing supply-chain risk for Australian critical minerals projects.

    Technical Brief

    • ALCORE’s process converts aluminium smelter by-product (ex-bath material) into hydrogen fluoride and other fluorine products.
    • Feedstock is sourced from spent potlining-type bath material, reducing reliance on imported fluorspar or acids.
    • Pilot is intended to de-risk a future commercial HF plant sized for global export markets.
    • Location in Bell Bay’s heavy industrial zone simplifies approvals for hazardous chemicals handling and storage.
    • Co-location with aluminium smelter by-products offers short, low-cost feedstock logistics and inventory control.
    • HF output is aimed at ultra-high purity specifications suitable for advanced electronics and battery materials processing.
    • Similar waste-to-reagent HF schemes could reframe environmental liabilities from smelter residues as strategic chemical feedstocks.

    Our Take

    ABx Group’s hydrogen fluoride work at Bell Bay sits alongside its Federal Government-backed research on extracting rare earths from ionic clay deposits in northern Tasmania, signalling a strategy to build an integrated critical-minerals and reagents footprint within the state rather than a single-commodity play.

    With Tasmania already flagged in our coverage as an emerging rare earths hub through ABx’s Deep Leads ionic clay project and mixed rare earth carbonate production, locating a pilot plant at Bell Bay port could shorten logistics chains for any future rare earths processing and export from the island.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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