Verde Magnesium, backed by investment fund Amerocap, plans to invest $1 billion in Romania over eight to 10 years to develop a magnesium mine and processing plant that will use magnesium to process aluminium and produce aluminium alloys, IntelliNews reports.
Europe will resume magnesium mining for the first time in more than a decade as the EU tries to reduce its dependence on Chinese imports of the crucial raw material. The metal is in high demand for the production of lightweight aluminium alloys used in automobiles and packaging, among other applications.
On 15 April, the company received permission to reopen a closed magnesium mine located in western Romania, near Oradea. The investor plans to start producing magnesium in Romania within four to five years and expects annual production of around 90,000 tonnes thereafter.
Verde Magnesium CEO Alexandru Rosu said that operational work will last up to five years, with parallel work to develop magnesium metal production.
The last two European magnesium mines, one in Norway and the other in France, were closed in 2001 due to competition from cheap imports from China.
Currently, more than 90 per cent of magnesium in the EU is imported from China, making the 27-nation bloc vulnerable to disruptions in Chinese production such as those that will occur in 2022 as a result of high energy prices.
The project is expected to create up to 1,000 direct jobs and up to 10,000 indirect jobs, depending on the development of production capacity.
