Magnesium information: current situation and future of magnesium alloy industry

Jiang bin, deputy director of China's national magnesium alloy material engineering and technology research center, said at the salt lake comprehensive utilization BBS conference on June 27 that 2016 is the turning point of China's magnesium industry, with domestic consumption exceeding exports for the first time, indicating that the domestic consumption market has achieved rapid growth. According to statistics, by the end of 2017, China's raw magnesium production has reached 1.02 million tons, and the raw magnesium production capacity continues to grow.

　　Dryer

Deputy director of national magnesium alloy material engineering technology research center

Dean and professor of material science, chongqing university

China is rich in magnesium resources, of which more than 20 billion tons of dolomite and 3 billion tons of magnesite have been proved to be exploitable, and more than 4 billion tons of salt lake magnesium chloride reserves can be mined for more than 1,000 years, accounting for more than 70% of the world's magnesium resources. At present, the accumulative discovered reserves of magnesium chloride contained in qaidam basin are 4.281 billion tons, accounting for 99% of the total identified salt lake magnesium, ranking the first in China.

According to the statistics of magnesium branch of China nonferrous metal industry association, there are 37 magnesium smelting enterprises with an annual output of more than 10,000 tons in 2016, with a total output of 749,300 tons, an increase of 20.43% year on year. The number of enterprises with an annual output of more than 30,000 tons was 9, with a total output of 320,500 tons, an increase of 92.72% year on year. China's raw magnesium production capacity, output and domestic consumption increased significantly.

The international magnesium association has done a lot of work in more than a dozen major countries around the world, and the results have been published on its website. A large number of studies have also been conducted by Beijing university of technology and other institutions in China, indicating that magnesium alloy as a green metal material has great potential for energy conservation and environmental protection.

At present, global magnesium alloy production and consumption have exceeded 400,000 tons, and China's magnesium alloy production and consumption have also achieved a substantial increase. The automobile industry is the largest consumer of magnesium alloy. In 2017, the world's auto production is about 90 million units (China is about 29 million units), and the application potential of magnesium alloy in automobile is still great. At the same time, China's railway mileage will reach 120,000 km in 2017, among which the high-speed railway mileage will exceed 22,000 km. There is also a huge demand for lightweight magnesium alloy parts.

The increase of energy saving and emission reduction pressure, the improvement of national security level and the improvement of quality of life requirements will provide rapidly increasing market demand for the future development of magnesium industry. Among them, the demand for magnesium alloy parts for new energy vehicles will increase sharply in recent years, and the increase of salt lake magnesium industry scale will provide guarantee for the expansion of magnesium alloy product market and the improvement of raw magnesium quality.