Accelerated Deployment of Brine Magnesium Smelting Projects Outside China Brings Incremental Local Magnesium Supply to Europe and the US [SMM survey]

Published: Jun 18, 2026 13:54

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[SMM Magnesium Survey: Overseas Brine Magnesium Smelting Projects Accelerate, Bringing Incremental Local Magnesium Supply to Europe and the US] The Canada Greenland Malm bjerg project is advancing preliminary works, conducting tests on magnesium extraction from brine and rare earth recovery. The European Innovation Council's due diligence on a €50 million investment will be completed by the end of June, which can supplement the EU's local magnesium supply. In the US, Magrathea, in collaboration with TETRA, has achieved commercial production of high-purity magnesium through brine-based smelting, marking the only new magnesium smelting capacity built in the US in recent years. Phase one has commenced, filling the gap in domestic high-end magnesium raw material supply.

Greenland Resources advances pre-development works at the Malmbjerg project while concurrently tackling brine-based magnesium extraction and by-product magnesium and rare earth recovery

Canada’s Greenland Resources has disclosed the latest progress of its Malmbjerg project, an EU priority critical mineral asset primarily producing molybdenum, with magnesium and rare earths as by-products. The company has secured mining licenses for molybdenum and magnesium. The enterprise will carry out on-site engineering from August to September, completing detailed designs for mine infrastructure and supporting facilities including a 23-kilometer conveyor corridor. Concurrently, it is initiating metallurgical testing, collecting ore core and seawater samples to test ore and brine-based magnesium extraction and rare earth recovery processes, and plans to incorporate by-product revenues into project revenue estimates. Due diligence for the European Innovation Council’s €50 million investment is expected to be completed by month-end June. The project’s environmentally friendly mining approach can produce high-magnesium brine, and the associated magnesium extraction process is expected to supplement the EU’s domestic magnesium supply.

Magrathea & TETRA Arkansas Brine Magnesium Smelting: Breakthrough in Domestic High-Purity Magnesium Production, Reshaping the US Magnesium Supply Chain

The Magrathea and TETRA joint-venture Arkansas magnesium project achieved a technological breakthrough, leveraging local Smackover brine and a proprietary electrolysis process to produce primary magnesium metal with purity exceeding 99.9% that meets the ASTM B92 standard, representing the only newly-built magnesium smelting capacity in the US in recent years. This partnership integrates both parties’ operational and process strengths in resources and technology, compresses plant construction and production costs, and once operational will reverse the situation where the US’s high-quality magnesium resources have lain idle and the country has long relied on overseas imports, filling supply chain gaps for strategic minerals critically needed in defense, aerospace, nuclear energy and other sectors. Currently, first-phase plant engineering has commenced and received strong support from the local government.

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