China's largest coal producer, the China Shenhua Group, has started construction of a plant capable of producing alumina (used in aluminum production) from a by-product of thermal power plants, coal ash.
Lin Wen, an executive of the company, said the company will invest as much as 135,8 billion yuan ($21,4 billion), and the plant will be located in the Jungar Coal Mining Area in Ordos, province of Inner Mongolia, a northern part of China. The Ordos area, which contains one-sixth of China's coal reserves, has the resources to produce 3 billion tons of alumina. The project includes a 6600 megawatt power plant, an alumina plant and a gallium plant. Both plants will use materials recycled from burnt coal, thus adding ecological benefits to those of the new production process.
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-12/19/content_14286301.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxide
