Piloting the Australian magnesium process

Abstract

This paper describes the piloting process that was behind Australian Magnesium Corporation Limited decision to build a 97 000 t per annum magnesium smelter near Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia in 2001.

Before the engineering design for this smelter, Australian Magnesium Corporation Ltd had completed an extensive piloting program. This involved a batch minipilot plant in 1993 which was followed by a continuous minipilot plant which operated for eight months in 1994. Finally, a 1500 t per annum demonstration plant was built and operated at Gladstone in Queensland between 1998 and 2002. The minipilot plants assessed the stability of the chemicals used in the process, the solvent losses, the crystallisation yields and also tested the viability of operations previously only tested on a laboratory scale. The demonstration plant was designed to evaluate the complete integration of the process, assess the effectiveness of the selected industrial scale equipment and materials of construction while providing information for a bankable feasibility study.