| Production & mining |
The total production of about 726.000 tons per year is chiefly produced in the country’s China, Israel, Canada and the USA & Kazakhstan. Worldwide annually 70.000 tons is produced through recycling processes.
Generally there are two different production processes: a.) Production by electrolysis of molten magnesium b.) Thermal reduction of magnesium oxide The most applied process worldwide is the electrolyte process where the magnesium chloride cell feed are brines rich in magnesium chloride, dolomite and magnesium ores. The magnesium oxide furnace feed for the thermal reduction process is obtained from magnesium bearing minerals like brucite, solomite or magnesite which are worldwide found in the earth’s crust (1.92% of the earth’s crust consist of these minerals). |