New Magnesium Elektron plant in Czech Republic hits production target

03 May 2002 -- Leading international magnesium producer Magnesium Elektron officially opened its new magnesium refinery in Litvinov, Czech republic today. The plant will produce 10,000 tonnes of magnesium recycled from scrap. The metal will be used in the automobile industry, which is increasingly turning to ultra-light magnesium as a material of choice for power train and body parts. This is a strategic investment by Magnesium Elektrons owners, Luxfer Group, the international materials company.

Litvinov, Czech Republic, 3 May 2002:The new magnesium alloy refinery at Litvinov, in the Czech republic, owned by Manchester, UK-based Magnesium Elektron, is on line to produce its projected annual tonnage of 10000 tonnes of magnesium casting alloy.

At the plants official opening ceremony today, celebrating the first 1,000 tonnes, Brian Purves, CEO of Magnesium Elektrons parent company Luxfer Group, which has manufacturing operations in the UK, Germany, France, North America, and Australia, told the guests Our investment in Litvinov is an expression of our confidence in the continued success of magnesium as an essential metal for the motor industry."

We have created a state-of-the-art plant by combining our proprietary techniques with the latest generation of refining and casting machinery. The result is a production facility which is world class in terms of the quality and cost of its output."

Magnesium Elektrons new plant recycles magnesium arisings from the die casting industry and turns them into high quality magnesium casting alloys.

The Litvinov plant is located in Northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic, near the border with Germany, and is strategically placed to handle magnesium process arisings with 80 per cent of its customers, representing 75 per cent of plant volume, located within a 250 mile (350km) radius.

Magnesium is a major material for the automotive industry, and recent years have seen demand growing by nearly 20 per cent annually. According to Purves, the new plant will improve metal supply to European casters. Since the feedstock of the plant is magnesium casting arisings, which can be recycled again and again using only 5 per cent of the original energy requirement, the plant will also have a beneficial environmental impact.

Production at the plant can be expanded to meet future increases in demand.

The new plant boasts a number of technical innovations. As Chris Dagger, Divisional Managing Director of Magnesium Elektron, put it, Recycling and refining magnesium arisings into a high quality product is regarded by many as a black art". Magnesium Elektron has been perfecting these techniques since 1936, and its unique Elektron refining technology, guarantees reliability and total quality. The Litvinov plant looks like a conventional refinery and caster, but incorporates significant adaptations and patented enhancements to improve performance, reliability and quality."

Some of these improvements stem from continued investment in IT infrastructure to enable seamless relationships with customers and logistics providers. Material is traced and analysed right through the system, from the diecaster, through recycling and back to the diecaster. It ensures that new" metal exactly matches the old.

The 6 million investment was made with the assistance of CzeckInvest, the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trades agency for direct foreign investment. The plant has 64 employees.

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