Magnesium supply, applications, and Dow Chemical cartel

Quantity overview (250,000 tons globally vs. 40 million for aluminum, 1 billion for steel). Half goes to Al alloying; rest to steel desulfurization, nodular iron, tantalum/Nb reduction, and sacrificial anodes in hot-water tanks. Tom closes with Joel Clark's first PhD student's thesis tracking magnesium and aluminum prices in lockstep 1946–1975, attributing it to a Dow Chemical illegal cartel.

Magnesium does count for something. Let's talk about the quantities used in the world. Shipments of magnesium from '83 to '88 — it doesn't matter too much, they didn't change dramatically. 28,000 metric tons used for die castings, then 37,000 tons for gravity and wrought products. Only seven thousand of the thirty-seven thousand is wrought products — wrought meaning sheet. Someone wanted to deform magnesium, and I said it's not easy. This is an example. To work it you have to do it warm. It's a hexagonal close-packed metal. It can be made into sheet, but you have to really know what you're doing.