Alliance Magnesium to invest $145M in magnesium recycling plant

Alliance Magnesium, a private Canadian company focused on producing primary magnesium from serpentine mine tailings and secondary magnesium to make value-added products, has received enough funding for its commercial demonstration plant in Quebec.

The magnesium production facility will have a capacity of up to 18,000 tonnes per year and produce primary magnesium ingots from serpentine and secondary magnesium tailings from recycling scraps from the metal processing industry.

“The construction of the plant is made possible by the shareholding of the Government of Quebec ($13.4 million), the Japanese company Marubeni ($16.7 million), Fondaction ($10 million) and the company’s current shareholders,” Alliance Magnesium said in a press release.

“In addition, a senior loan of $50 million was signed with an American financial institution and a loan of $12.5 million from the Quebec government. Sustainable Development Technologies Canada and Transition Énergétique Québec are also part of the funding with a financial contribution of respectively $12 million and $3 million.”

The investments add up to $145 million.

The plant is expected to employ 100 people during the construction phase, which should start this spring, and create 102 jobs once it becomes operative, the company said.

“This innovative project uses the circular economy to develop new magnesium manufacturing processes,” Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec’s Minister of Economy and Innovation, said in a statement. “In demand in the automotive and aerospace industries, magnesium is one of the solutions favouring lighter structures in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Alliance Magnesium is committed to fully comply with the government directives that will be issued after the BAPE recommendations concerning the safe recovery of asbestos mine tailings for the subsequent stages,” he said. “The government’s support will make it possible to begin construction work on the casting centre this spring, which will produce magnesium from recycled metal.”