Click here to read the full article on KUER.
From KUER:
US Magnesium, which produces magnesium, lithium and other chemicals from Great Salt Lake, will lay off 186 employees and idle operations. The company notified the Utah Department of Workforce Services in September and said the layoffs would occur Nov. 25.
The company’s workforce at its plant in east Tooele County is made up of between 100 and 249 employees, according to state data.
US Magnesium’s layoff notice said it decided to idle plant operations due to “deteriorating market conditions for lithium carbonate.” Lithium carbonate is used in the production of glass, ceramics and lithium-ion batteries — the linchpin of smartphones and electric vehicles.
Lithium production makes up a small percentage of the company’s overall operations, said Ben Stireman, deputy director of the Utah Department of Forestry, Fire, & State Lands.
Stireman noted that US Magnesium has only ever produced three magnesium products: pure magnesium, magnesium alloy and magnesium chloride. But, from his knowledge, they haven’t produced pure magnesium or magnesium alloy in two years.
US Magnesium said in its letter to the state that plant operations would resume with a recovery in lithium carbonate pricing. For this reason, it hopes the layoffs are temporary, but cannot guarantee it.
Though a majority of operations will idle, a portion of their staff will remain online to produce small amounts of sodium and magnesium chloride. The US Magnesium plant is on the EPA's sites of National Priority List, and historically one of the largest evaporative water users on the Lake. FRIENDS has long been advocating for better practices at the facility.
Click here to read more about our Advocacy Work around US Magnesium.