MAGNESIUM: Alliance starts pilot plant at site of former Magnola smelter

QUEBEC – Alliance Magnesium of Brossard, QC, is using facilities of the former Magnola magnesium smelter in Danville to build a pilot plant.

The Magnola plant was opened by Noranda in 1999 (see CMJ April 1999). The site had the advantage of readily available and cheap supplies of serpentine for feed, thanks to the nearby former asbestos mines, but Noranda took a $630-million write-down and closed the facility at the end of 2002. The plant is now owned by Glencore.

Alliance, a private company, plans to run the pilot plant for a period of 14 months to demonstrate its technology. Plans call for the investment of $535 million to build a plant capable of producing 50,000 t/y using a combined hydrometallurgical and advanced electrolytic process. Commercial production is targeted for 2017.

Learn more at AllianceMagnesium.com.