US-based Magrathea Metals and Powedermet have been awarded US$19.6M and US$1.9M, respectively, as part of strategic investment contracts through the US Department of Defence (DoD).

The award from the DoD will see US192.5M split across seven US-based companies to support the development of a domestic supply chain for military grade chemicals via the Defence Production Act Investments (DPAI) Program. Among the awardees is Magrethea Metals, a company which is currently developing its electrolytic extraction technology and has successfully demonstrated its viability through a mini-pilot project. In June of 2023, the company also raised US$10M in seed funding to scale-up the project.

Also included in the DoD award round was Powdermet,which specialises in nanotechnology and advanced materials development. Although Powedermet also manufactures magnesium die-casting parts through its associated company Magnesium USA, its investment is allocated to the establishment of domestic supply chains for titanium and zirconium powders. According to the DoD, these projects have shown potential to meet the production capabilities required to meet domestic demand while also employing modern and environmentally responsible production technologies. Furthermore, with the contributions from the US DoD, these projects will be expected to commercialise their technologies by 2027.

Magnesium metal has many attributes that make it well suited for a wide variety of applications, mostly based around the metal’s high strength-to-weight ratio making it an important lightweighting metal and an alloying element in aluminium. Its high natural abundance in the earth’s crust also makes the metal readily available if it can be economically and efficiently extracted. Magnesium’s importance in the defence industry is linked to its usage as a reductant to produce titanium. This application is expected to see significant growth over the next decade and is forecast to grow by over 30%. Currently, the US only has one primary producer of magnesium metal, although it is also the world’s largest producer of secondary magnesium. Despite this existing domestic supply, the US is still reliant on imported magnesium to meet its domestic demand. Both Magrathea and Powedermet are therefore poised to become key players in the efforts of the US government to strengthen its domestic magnesium and titanium supply chains.