US Magnesium Bankruptcy Threatens Utah with Toxic Legacy and Unresolved Cleanup Costs

[Gearing Up for 2026! Magnesium Market Wraps Up a Stable January, Nearly 300,000 mt of Additional Demand to Boost Industry's New Prosperity] The magnesium market's performance for the year has now concluded. Price fluctuations in the magnesium market during 2025 may not have stood out among nonferrous metals, but it is precisely this past stability that is expected to foster the potential for nearly 300,000 mt of additional magnesium alloy demand growth in 2026. The magnesium metal market in 2026 is set to embark on a year of prosperity, marking a crucial step toward a thriving future. The industry is poised to write a new chapter of growth, which is highly anticipated across the sector. As we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, on behalf of the SMM Magnesium Team, I would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to colleagues in the industry, magnesium enterprise partners, experts, and scholars who have long cared for and supported SMM. Wishing everyone a prosperous New Year, immediate success, abundant wealth, and lasting good fortune!

Utah paid $30 million for a bankrupt magnesium plant—but not the $100 million cleanup. Its toxic legacy seeps toward the Great Salt Lake, unpaid. Across the Atlantic, Austria’s LKR cracked magnesium’s code: alloy ZAX210 now shapes into wire for medical implants and 3D printing. Two faces of the same metal: one buried in liability, the other alight with possibility.

[ SMM Magnesium Morning Meeting Minutes: Magnesium Market Closes Steadily Before Holiday, Transactions Turn Sluggish Awaiting Post-Holiday Restart ] February 12, raw material side: dolomite and ferrosilicon prices remained unchanged from the previous working day. Magnesium ingot market quotations were stable, with mainstream transaction prices in the Fugu area maintaining at 16,350-16,450 yuan/mt. Approaching the Chinese New Year, supply-side enterprises' willingness to sell weakened, quotations were mainly stable, and logistics shipments slowed down significantly; domestic trade spot cargo transactions were sluggish, with only small amounts of just-in-time procurement, and transactions were mainly futures orders; in foreign trade, some forward orders for delivery by the end of March have started tenders. The ferrosilicon market benchmark price and processing fee both held steady, enterprise production was normal, downstream die-casting and end-user enterprises were gradually going on holiday, transactions tended to be mediocre, and supply-demand maintained a tight balance. The magnesium powder market operated steadily, enterprises' pre-holiday stockpiling was basically completed, production pace slowed down, domestic trade procurement wrapped up, logistics capacity declined, and the transaction atmosphere turned cold, with limited new orders in foreign trade. Overall, the magnesium industry chain entered a stable pre-holiday operation phase, prices of all varieties held steady, market trading tended to be sluggish, quietly awaiting post-Chinese New Year demand recovery and the landing of new orders.