Nevada Clean Magnesium, Inc. achieved preliminary production of magnesium metal from its bench-scale pilot furnace located in Northern British Columbia, Canada.
The magnesium metal is a result from a partial test charge the company is conducting in order to identify any operational deficiencies prior to a full charge of dolime material. The charge contains dolomite from the company’s Tami Mosi deposit located east of Ely, Nevada, and ferro silicon the identified base case reductant material contained in the NI 43-101. The testing provides “proof of concept” for magnesium production and provides the Nevada Clean Magnesium technical team a clear path to fine tuning the process in order to achieve better efficiencies and cycle times.
“It was very gratifying to have the pilot furnace operate so effectively on its initial reduction test,” said James Sever, COO of Nevada Clean Magnesium. “Not only did we produce metallic magnesium, we confirmed that the reactor concept meets the target for energy reduction. This should reduce both the cost of production and the carbon footprint of the operation. The rate of reaction brought about by efficient heat transfer to the charge was surprisingly fast indicating the potential for continuous production rather than cyclic batches. We have a great deal of work to do but the initial work substantiates our belief in this project.”
The company has submitted test samples for analysis, including leftover residue materials to determine if they will have potential use as saleable byproducts. All residue samples generated in this test are being supplied to an interested international cement company for further testing and data analysis. These residue tests and analysis should be available back to the company early in the New Year.
Nevada Clean Magnesium aims to become a major U.S. producer and distributor of primary, high grade, low cost magnesium metal extracted from its 100% owned Tami-Mosi property located in North Central Nevada. “This step has been highly anticipated and is a significant milestone for the Tami Mosi project,” said Ed Lee, President and CEO of Nevada Clean Magnesium. “The project continues to meet the design criteria laid out at the beginning of the [preliminary economic analysis] back in 2011, which was to design a project that has the opportunities and realistic potentials to have near zero emissions and waste while providing a source of magnesium metal produced within the U.S. that is competitive with the rest of the world.”
The next test will utilize an alternate reductant and a full charge of Tami Mosi dolomite. All of this work is based upon earlier reductant testing performed by Big Blue Technology LLC of Golden Colorado using ferro silicon and the alternate reductant.