U.S.Geological Survey (USGS): Magnesium

Statistics and Information: Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element and constitutes about 2% of the Earth's crust, and it is the third most plentiful element dissolved in seawater. Although magnesium is found in over 60 minerals, only dolomite, magnesite, brucite, carnallite, and olivine are of commercial importance. Magnesium and other magnesium compounds are also produced from seawater, well and lake brines and bitterns. Magnesium compounds, primarily magnesium oxide, are used mainly as refractory material in furnace linings for producing iron and steel, nonferrous metals, glass, and cement. Magnesium oxide and other compounds also are used in agricultural, chemical, and construction industries. Magnesium metal's principal use is as an alloying addition to aluminum, and these aluminum-magnesium alloys are used mainly for beverage cans. Magnesium alloys also are used as structural components of automobiles and machinery. Magnesium also is used to remove sulfur from iron and steel.

Magnesium
(Data in thousand metric tons of magnesium content unless otherwise noted)

U.S. Domestic Production and Use: Seawater and natural brines accounted for about 43% of U.S. magnesium compounds production in 2008. Magnesium oxide and other compounds were recovered from seawater by three companies in California, Delaware, and Florida; from well brines by two companies in Michigan; and from lake brines by two companies in Utah. Magnesite was mined by one company in Nevada, brucite was mined by one company in Texas, and olivine was mined by two companies in North Carolina and Washington. About 60% of the magnesium compounds consumed in the United States was used for refractories. The remaining 40% was used in agricultural, chemical, construction, environmental, and industrial applications.

U.S. Recycling: Some magnesia-based refractories are recycled, either for reuse as refractory material or for use as construction aggregate.

U.S. Import Sources (2004-07): China, 78%; Canada, 6%; Austria, 5%; Australia, 3%; and other, 8%.

U.S. Tariff: (2)

U.S. Depletion Allowance: Brucite, 10% (Domestic and foreign); dolomite, magnesite, and magnesium carbonate, 14% (Domestic and foreign); magnesium chloride (from brine wells), 5% (Domestic and foreign); and olivine, 22% (Domestic) and 14% (Foreign).

Events, Trends, and Issues: Production capacity at the caustic-calcined magnesia plant in Queensland, Australia, was set to increase by 100,000 tons per year from its current capacity of 80,000 tons per year in response to growth in the world steel, nickel, cobalt, copper, and agricultural markets. Installation of a third multiple-hearth furnace was scheduled to be completed by September 2009. The company also has the capacity to produce 110,000 tons per year of dead-burned magnesia and 30,000 tons per year of fused magnesia. In Canada, the magnesite producer announced that it would double the production capacity for caustic-calcined magnesia at its Exshaw, Alberta, plant to 50,000 tons per year by adding another furnace and was considering restarting production at its 14,000-ton-per-year fused magnesia plant.

After being purchased by a private equity firm in 2007, Brazil’s leading magnesite producer announced plans to triple its dead-burned magnesia production and double its refractories production. Based on first quarter 2008 production data, the company would increase dead-burned magnesia production to 360,000 tons per year, a small increase from the plant’s current production capacity of 320,000 tons per year. However, the company planned to increase its refractories production capacity to 580,000 tons per year by 2009 from its current level of 335,000 tons per year. Most of the company’s refractory products are used by Brazil’s steel industry. The company also acquired a German refractories company in September 2008; the combination of the two refractories groups would create the world’s third ranked refractories company in terms of revenue.

The leading magnesite producer in Turkey planned to start production of fused magnesia and increase production capacity for dead-burned magnesia and magnesia-base refractories by yearend. A smaller producer in Turkey planned to increase production capacity for dead-burned magnesia to 35,000 tons per year from the current level of 12,000 tons per year and begin producing fused magnesia by 2009. In February, Russia’s leading magnesite producer acquired one of two magnesite producers in Slovakia and, later in 2008, announced plans to acquire the other producer.

World Mine Production, Reserves, and Reserve Base:

In addition to magnesite, there are vast reserves of well and lake brines and seawater from which magnesium compounds can be recovered.

World Resources: Resources from which magnesium compounds can be recovered range from large to virtually unlimited and are globally widespread. Identified world resources of magnesite total 12 billion tons, and of brucite, several million tons. Resources of dolomite, forsterite, magnesium-bearing evaporite minerals, and magnesia-bearing brines are estimated to constitute a resource in billions of tons. Magnesium hydroxide can be recovered from seawater.

Substitutes: Alumina, chromite, and silica substitute for magnesia in some refractory applications.

(e) Estimated.
(W) Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data.
(1) See also Magnesium Metal.
(2) Tariffs are based on gross weight.
(3) Excludes the United States

U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2009