Magnesium Metal Production in Canada

Abstract

Over the last century, the primary magnesium industry in Canada has grown, peaking in the year 2000 with Canada as the second largest producer and since then, has shrunk to where no primary magnesium is produced. The story is complex due to the fact that two competing commercial magnesium processes exist and that there has been a major global shift in the commercialization of these technologies.

These two technologies are a high temperature thermal process where silicon is used to reduce magnesium oxide to magnesium metal and a more traditional light metal production route based on molten salt electrolysis, in this case the electrolysis of magnesium chloride.