Slurry and method for producing refractory boride bodies and coatings for use in aluminium electrowinning cells

A method of producing aluminium in a cell containing molten electrolyte and cathodically produced aluminium, comprising;

• manufacturing a component of the cell by providing a slurry of a refractory boride and either applying the slurry to a substrate or forming a self-sustaining body with the slurry, and drying, the slurry comprising particulate preformed refractory boride and/or particulate precursors of refractory boride in a colloidal carrier which contains colloidal particles that have a non-gaussian particle size distribution and that comprise a mixture of at least two different grades of the same colloid having mean particle sizes which differ from one another, each grade of colloid having a generally gaussian particle size distribution;
• placing the cell component into the cell;
• and
• operating the cell to produce molten aluminium with the cell component contacting cathodically produced aluminium and/or the molten electrolyte during cell operation.