Magnesium is vital to the aluminium alloys used in Europe’s cars. However, nearly all of it is imported from outside the continent. Since 2011 the EU has included magnesium in its list of Critical Raw Materials that are crucial to Europe’s economy but have an uncertain supply.
In Tenerife, Spain, researchers are now testing if brines from desalination plants can become a new source of magnesium. Their work is part of the EU-funded Sea4Value project, which aims to extract ten minerals and metals from brine.