New magnesium plant given green light

What the Magnesium Co. of Canada (Magcan) says has the potential to grow to be the largest of its kind in the world, a magnesium production facility located near High River, Alta., was recently given the go-ahead by the company.

The 62,500-tonne-per-year facility, to be built in three phases, will produce high purity magnesium metal utilizing new technology developed by a subsidiary of Magnesium International.

Magcan is jointly owned by Alberta Natural Gas Co. and Magnesium International.

Magnesium, with a density of less than two-thirds that of aluminum, is the lightest commercially available structural metal. Future market growth would appear to lie in weight-sensitive applications such as consumer products (power hand tools, cameras, etc.) and automobiles and motorcycles where the metal could substitute for aluminum, zinc, plastic and steel components.

Magcan says projections for such a market expansion are conservatively estimated to be 1.5 million tonnes per year, or about five times current world production. The largest single market for magnesium is its application as a constituent in aluminum alloys.

Phase-one of the Magcan facility will have an annual capacity of 12,500 tonnes; it is scheduled for completion in late 1989 at a cost of about $100 million. Full production of magnesium from this phase will come on stream in 1990.

Magcan says it will begin construction of phases two and three as the market develops. The last two phases will increase annual capacity by 50,000 tonnes.

The company is confident the High River facility, located about 23 miles south of Calgary, will be the first of several of its facilities worldwide employing the new process technology.

At the moment, there is one Canadian primary producer of magnesium, Timminco Ltd., which has a plant at Haley, Ont., 110 km west of Ottawa. Under construction in Quebec, at Becancour, across the St. Lawrence River from Three Rivers, is a magnesium plant which the Norwegian firm Norsk Hydro is hoping to have ready for production in 1989.

Last year, Roskill Information Services of London reported that better times seem to lie ahead for magnesium. While, for example, the recycling of aluminum alloys in the U.S. may hamper further growth in that part of the world, there appears to be room for growth in Asia and Europe. Metals Week quotes a producer price of $1.53(US) per-lb for the mineral.

Australia’s uranium industry wants to get on with the job of mining the mineral but is being held back by the government’s export and production controls. Not long ago the chairman of Pancontinental Mining spoke out on the subject, and now news reports have the boss of CRA Ltd. adding his voice.

Australia produced 10.7 million lb uranium in 1987 for an almost 11% share of non-Communist world production and a third-place ranking among global producer- nations (behind the leader, Canada, and the U.S.). Nukem forecasts Australia will surpass the U.S. in uranium production this year, with output of 13 million lb.

The ruling Labour Party is apparently feeling the heat from the party’s “left wing” which doesn’t wish to see uranium exports go towards the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Australian uranium is exported on the condition that it serves only as fuel for nuclear power plants.

CRA has a uranium deposit in western Australia hosting possible ore reserves of 15 million tonnes.

Construction of a plant in Canada for the production of reinforced aluminum has been announced by Alcan Aluminum. The company describes its product, called DURAL, as “a new family of ceramic particle reinforced aluminum.”

No site for the plant, which will turn out 25 million lb per year of the product, has been mentioned, although the company says the facility should be in operation by mid-1989. A second plant of the same capacity is also being planned for the U.S.

Alcan says its product can compare favorably with non-reinforced alumimum, steel and titanium and has applications ranging from automotive and aerospace components to defence and sporting equipment.

In other company news, Alcan reports it will speed up construction of the first two phases of its new Laterriere smelter at Chicoutimi, Que. The smelter will be able to handle 200,000 tonnes per year; the over-all project will cost an estimated $650 million(C) and take four-to-five years to complete.