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Mighty magnesium
By PHILIP HOPKINS
IN a major boost to Latrobe Valley industry and jobs, Latrobe Magnesium has paved the way for its plant in Morwell to use the company’s own patented technology to eventually produce magnesium for the international market from the Valley’s brown coal fly ash. The company, in a release to the ASX on Monday (May 13), announced the completion of commissioning for the first phase of its 1000 tonnes per annum, Stage 1 demonstration plant. The plant, which was built over the past year, produces what Latrobe Magnesium (LMG) says is the world’s first environmentally sustainable Magnesium Oxide from fly ash – a waste product from the Yallourn power station. Production of MgO is the prerequisite for proceeding to the next stage of the operation, a commercial plant with a capacity of more than 10,000 tonnes per annum of magnesium metal. This output is 100 per cent contracted.
Magnesium is classified as a critical mineral in multiple countries, with no current producers across Japan, North America, Europe and the Middle East. LMG said completing the commissioning phase marked a big milestone in pioneering a sustainable magnesium extraction method at an industrial scale. Using the company’s world-first hydromet process showed the value of LMG’s intellectual property. “The successful production of MgO from the demonstration plant is a testament to our innovative process and commitment to sustainable manufacturing,” the company said. LMG will now start a bankable feasibility study and financial discussions for the commercial plant. The chief operating officer at LMG, Ronan Gillen, said an investment decision on the commercial plant was expected by the end of the year. “We hope to have the commercial plant operating in 2026,” he said, during a tour of the plant with the Express.
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Mr Gillen estimated that construction of the commercial plant would create more than 300 jobs, while the fully operating plant would have 50-60 permanent jobs. The aim was to employ locals, such as former workers from Australian Paper, he said. LMG will extract the magnesium metal and other saleable materials from the industrial fly ash, a waste resource from the Yallourn brown coal power station. There was enough ash from the Yallourn power station for 50 years' operation, Mr Gillen said. LMG has been doing research and development on its pioneering technology for 20 years, with various forms of technology tried. The proprietary hydromet process has been extensively tested at laboratories and the CSIRO at a cost of more than $20 million. MgO production from the demonstration plant will be sold to Rainstorm Dust Control under a memorandum of understanding between the parties. Long-term 20-year supply agreements
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of fly ash and ferro-nickel slag waste feedstocks for the plant’s production have been secured. LMG has international contracts locked in to export the magnesium to America and Japan. Under the US-Australia free trade agreement, magnesium produced in Australia is exempt from any import duty. LMG’s chief executive, David Paterson, said as the only Western producer of MgO, the importance of LMG’s production was “globally significant”. The US contract would deliver excellent prices to LMG due to US anti-dumping duty payable on magnesium imports from China, he said. Currently Australia imports 100 per cent of the 8000 tonnes annually consumed. According to LMG, global magnesium demand is forecast to double to two million tonnes by 2027. Continued - Page 10
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