Speaker: Jiang Bin

Deputy Director of National Engineering Technology Research Center for Magnesium Alloy Materials

Director and Professor, Department of Materials Science, Chongqing University

Excerpts from the highlights:

2016 was 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 primary magnesium production has reached 1.02 million tons, and the primary magnesium production capacity has continued to grow.

China is rich in magnesium ore resources, among which it has been proved that more than 20 billion tons of dolomite magnesium ore can be mined, more than 3 billion tons of magnesite, and more than 4 billion tons of magnesium chloride reserves in salt lakes, which can be mined for more than a thousand years, accounting for the world's magnesium ore resources more than 70%. At present, the accumulated reserves of magnesium chloride contained in the Qaidam Basin are 4.281 billion tons, accounting for 99% of the total amount of magnesium salts identified in the country, ranking first in the country.

According to the statistics of the Magnesium Branch of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, there were 37 magnesium smelting enterprises with an annual output of more than 10,000 tons in 2016, with a total output of 749,300 tons, a year-on-year increase of 20.43%; 9 enterprises with an annual output of more than 30,000 tons , the output totaled 320,500 tons, a year-on-year increase of 92.72%. China's primary magnesium production capacity, production and domestic consumption have increased significantly.

The International Magnesium Association has organized more than a dozen major countries around the world to do a lot of work, and the relevant results have been published on the International Magnesium Association website. my country's Beijing University of Technology and other units have also done a lot of research to show that magnesium alloy as a green metal material has great potential for energy saving and environmental protection.

At present, the global production and consumption of magnesium alloys have exceeded 400,000 tons, and the production and consumption of magnesium alloys in China have also achieved substantial growth. The automobile industry is the largest consumer of magnesium alloys. In 2017, the world's automobile production was about 90 million (about 29 million in China). The application potential of magnesium alloys in automobiles is still very large. At the same time, China's railway mileage reached 120,000 kilometers in 2017, of which the high-speed railway mileage exceeded 22,000 kilometers, and the demand for magnesium alloy lightweight components is also huge.

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