Industrial Practice of Extracting Magnesium from Serpentine

Abstract

There are 140 million tons of nickel-containing serpentine mines in Tuquan County, Inner Mongolia, China. There is no industrial practice in the world to extract magnesium metal from magnesium silicate minerals. Laboratory research shows that it is difficult to extract magnesium metal from serpentine. Based on our laboratory research, an industrial demonstration production line with an annual processing capacity of 21,000 tons of ore has been constructed. Especially the continuous vacuum metal magnesium reduction furnace developed by ourselves is stable and reliable, which proves its feasibility. From ore crushing, grinding, ball pressing, reduction, to metal magnesium refining and casting ingots, the entire production line is fully continuous and automated. The production process has no carbon dioxide emission, clean production, high production efficiency, and low cost, which lays the foundation for large-scale industrialization of extracting magnesium metal from serpentine.