Magnesium Market Update (July 26, 2012)

Magnesium prices are down slightly from last month, and traded in the range of $1.98 to $2.18 per pound on July 24.

A slowdown in coking coal plants has resulted in a lack of the waste gas that China needs in order to produce magnesium. As a result, Chinese primary magnesium production fell to 321,8000 for the first half of 2012, an 8.5 percent drop from the same period last year, according to Metal-Pages.

Karnalyte Resources (TSX:KRN) announced that it plans to start building a 100,000 tonne-per-year magnesium co-products plant in Saskatchewan, Canada. “The magnesium products plant would be able to produce MgCl₂ at about $6.32/t of brine at 32% concentration and $319/t of hydromagnesite. The plant is expected to produce about 7.6-million tons of MgCl₂ during the course of the carnallite mine’s expected 60-year life,” according to Mining Weekly.