Magnesium is an important metal. It is essential in industry and for human nutrition. It has many uses. It is used in electronics and in the aircraft and automotive industries. It is the third most used structural metal after iron and aluminum. Most magnesium is produced by China and Russia. The U.S. government considers magnesium to be a critical mineral.
The U.S. produces about 7% of global magnesium as of 2017, but there is only one company in the U.S. that produces it – U.S. Magnesium. It is produced in the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
The company is currently in an
environmental dispute with the State of Utah.
According to the company’s
website:
“US Magnesium is a world leader in the production and
management of primary magnesium through its active participation in all major
aspects of the industry: technology, refining, electrolysis and recycling.”
“US Magnesium is the largest producer of primary
magnesium in North America, operating facilities on the Great Salt Lake where
magnesium has been produced since 1972. The Company has repeatedly made
significant capital investments to increase magnesium production capacity,
while concurrently reducing the environmental footprint.”
“US Magnesium is committed to operating the facility in
an environmentally responsible manner and is continually developing ways to
positively impact the environment and local community. Environmental commitment
is highlighted by the development and utilization of state-of-the-art magnesium
electrolysis technology, minimizing both air emissions and energy requirements,
alongside the extensive use of solar energy.”
Leia Larsen of the Salt Lake
Tribune explains the company’s environmental issues:
“US Magnesium’s production plant has been mothballed for
years as it battles environmental regulatory actions, equipment failures,
receding Great Salt Lake levels and litigation from the state of Utah, which is
trying to revoke the lease that allows the company to operate.”
“Still, it has continued to pump a massive amount of
water from the Great Salt Lake.”
“US Magnesium diverts water from the Great Salt Lake
into solar evaporation ponds in Tooele County, where it concentrates the brine
to extract magnesium chloride salt. Its Rowley plant then refined the salt into
pure magnesium. The process produced corrosive waste and toxic emissions, which
the company released into the air and stored on the ground — allegedly
including on the state-owned lakebed — for decades.”
The state of Utah’s
regulatory agency issued an order in August for the company to cease water
pumping and extraction operations. The company has been fined for its
environmental non-compliance issues. It began building a large retaining wall
to prevent post-production pollution from entering the Great Salt Lake, but
stopped due to financial problems. The company produces both magnesium and
sodium chloride for Cargill. It attempted to pivot to lithium production from
its waste piles, investing $400 million when the price for lithium was really
high a few years ago, but it was hurt when the inflated lithium price dropped.
This failure resulted in the idling of the lithium production and loss of 85%
of the company’s workforce. It was a case of bad market timing. In 2024, the
Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands moved to revoke US Magnesium’s
64-year-old lease, citing the violations listed below.
U.S. EPA violations were listed as well, including failing to build a salt cap to contain pollution from an old waste pond and failing to retrofit its current pond.
Other companies
have sued the company for failing to deliver contracted magnesium volumes. The
violations and the company’s insistence that they are not polluting the
environment have ballooned into a bitter dispute with the state, which is ready
to revoke the company’s leases.
U.S. Magnesium recently filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This is mainly due to its financial
issues, its failed lithium pivot, and its financial inability to
comply with Utah’s environmental laws. Low magnesium commodity prices amid
abundant global supplies are other contributory issues. The filing occurred on
September 10, 2025, and part of the company's official statement is reproduced
below:
“Over the past decade, however, the company has
confronted a series of profound disruptions: global oversupply and offshore
dumping that drove prices to historic lows; the 2016 closure of a major
customer, Allegheny Technologies Rowley plant; and essential equipment failures
coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered force majeure events and
required us to idle magnesium operations.”
“In response, we pursued diversification into lithium
carbonate production, building a new lithium carbonate plant, the first of its
kind in the United States, applying advanced technology to our raw material
feedstock.”
“Through support from our ownership, we invested more
than $400 million in support of this effort and USM’s operations. However, an
80% decline in lithium carbonate prices and operational challenges coupled with
changing regional water policies and an ongoing regulatory assault over the
last two and a half years has compelled us to pause these operations."
The Pollution Associated with U.S. Magnesium’s Operations
on the Great Salt Lake
In 2009, U.S. Magnesium’s
brine mining operation was deemed an EPA Superfund site. This gives it some
national priority and additional funding for cleanup. The company built canals
that connect to the lake to access the saltwater, but as the lake continues to
dry up (it will continue to dry up since it is considered to be a terminal lake
with no outlets and no major inlets), the company sought to extend those canals
for better access. Their application was denied. The company concentrates the
salts in the brine via solar evaporation ponds, after which there is further
processing to remove impurities. One of the results of processing is the
production of dioxins, which enter the watershed and the air. The contaminants
of concern are listed and explained below by the Friends of Great Salt Lake,
which has been advocating for cleanup.
Magnesium’s Status as a U.S. Critical Mineral
One open question is that
since the U.S. has declared magnesium to be a critical mineral, how will the
bankruptcy, the disruption of operations, and the potential for total failure
affect U.S. magnesium production, domestic supply, and dependence on foreign
sources, particularly China? According to the DOE’s energy.gov:
"Over 80% of our nation’s supply of critical
minerals comes from foreign sources, and the United States currently imports
over half of its consumption of 43 of the 50 critical minerals and metals."
References:
Utah
demands US Magnesium stop pumping massive amounts of water from the Great Salt
Lake: The company is drowning in debt, and the state has resumed actions to
revoke its decades-old lease. Leia Larsen. The Salt Lake Tribune. September 2,
2025. Utah
demands US Magnesium stop siphoning Great Salt Lake water
Essential
US manufacturing company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Daniel Kline. The Street.
September 20, 2025. Essential
US manufacturing company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Magnesium.
Wikipedia. Magnesium -
Wikipedia
What's
next for the US Magnesium Superfund Site? Draft Story Map. Friends of Great
Salt Lake, September 22, 2025. What's
next for the US Magnesium Superfund Site?
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