Magrathea sells metal
San Francisco, 12 June 2024 - Magrathea, a company developing innovative technology for the production of carbon neutral light metal from seawater, has sold metal to a customer from the first new electrolytic magnesium smelter designed, built, and operated on American soil in the 21st century.
In February 2024, Magrathea announced a $28M public-private partnership with the US Department of Defense to fund the scale-up of the company’s technology for producing light metal. In March 2024, Magrathea announced a sustainable brine supply partnership with Cargill who is supplying feedstock to Magrathea’s R&D scale-up facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Magrathea is commissioning a two tonne per year R&D pilot and has produced >99.9% pure magnesium metal within the company’s first three production campaigns of pilot commissioning. The company’s first customer uses magnesium in an unsubstitutable application critical to national security. The customer’s uniquely stringent specifications are often considered harder to meet using thermal technologies such as the Pidgeon Process or other inefficient thermal reductions.
“We understand it is uncommon for two-year-old technology companies to sell metal,” said Alex Grant, CEO of Magrathea. “Our team is excited to have the chance to solve a real customer’s supply chain security problem so early in our journey. This is a significant milestone in our mission to de-risk the supply base of magnesium and other materials for the United States and its allies.”
Magrathea emerged to the customer as the most viable solution to satisfy their purity and supply chain security requirements. The customer first learned about Magrathea when the US Department of Energy announced in January 2024 that the company had been awarded a strategic $1.2M grant from the Vehicle Technologies Office to fund production of automotive grade die casting alloy at pilot scale.
Magrathea has initiated a summer pilot production campaign to make metal for the customer. The customer paid a “red, white, and blue premium” for the first new American made metal.
About Magrathea
Magrathea is a technology company based in California developing a new generation of electrolytic process for making carbon neutral metal from seawater and brines for the era of electrification and decarbonization. For media inquiries, please contact media@magratheametals.com.
A PDF version of this announcement can be found here.
