Start-ups advance US magnesium plans

Two magnesium start-ups—Magrathea Metals and Tidal Metals—are making plans to start production of the metal in the US. The US Departments of Defense, Interior, and Energy all list magnesium as critical because its alloys are lightweight and strong.Any metal that results from their efforts will help fill a domestic supply gap left by the shutdown of US Magnesium’s plant on the western shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. The status and future of the facility, which had been North America’s only major source of magnesium, has been uncertain since the state denied the company permits to expand its intake canals deeper into the shrinking lake 3 years ago.The site in Utah used enormous evaporation ponds to concentrate water from the Great Salt Lake by 99%. Environmental advocates have been urging regulators to shut the plant down for decades, saying a history of accidents and bad practices has contaminated the lake, local groundwater, and the air with toxic chemicals. US Magnesium filed for bankruptcy in September, and Utah state officials contacted by C&EN confirm that the plant has been shuttered since at least then, with no clear path to restarting.US Magnesium did not respond to requests for comment on this story.Magrathea is forming a joint venture in Arkansas with the chemical maker Tetra Technologies, which is building a plant that will convert brine into bromine chemicals. Plans for the site include a scaled-up version of Magrathea’s complete process, which the firm started running at pilot scale in California earlier this year.In