Magnesium prices are down slightly from last month, and traded in the range of $1.98 to $2.18 per pound on July 24.

 

A slowdown in coking coal plants has resulted in a lack of the waste gas that China needs in order to produce magnesium. As a result, Chinese primary magnesium production fell to 321,8000 for the first half of 2012, an 8.5 percent drop from the same period last year, according to market sources.

 

Karnalyte Resources announced that it plans to start building a 100,000 tonne-per-year magnesium co-products plant in Saskatchewan, Canada. “The magnesium products plant would be able to produce MgCl2 at about $6.32/t of brine at 32% concentration and $319/t of hydromagnesite. The plant is expected to produce about 7.6-million tons of MgCl2 during the course of the carnallite mine’s expected 60-year life,” according to market sources.