Noranda testing recovery plant for magnesium

Further testing of a process to recover magnesium from asbestos tailings in the Thetford Mines area of Quebec will be pursued by Noranda Minerals.

Construction of a $25-million pilot plant will start this autumn at the Noranda Technology Centre near Montreal.

Plans for spending $500 million on a 56,000-tonne-per-year facility (with construction set to start in 1997) have already been drawn up, pending positive results from the pilot project.

Production would proceed in phases, with phase-one output expected to reach 28,000 tonnes per year by 1999.

Magnesium’s main application is as an alloying agent for aluminum. It also has structural applications in die-cast products and other areas. The automotive market is particularly interested in the weight savings to be had in using magnesium metal.

Consumption of magnesium in the West is expected to rise, mainly in the aluminum alloying fields and because of an increase in the die-casting of automobile parts.