Welcome to The Gigacasting Newsletter
New here? Subscribe for weekly updates
On 5 November, the state of Utah selected Texas-based Mariana Minerals to plan the “responsible redevelopment” of the former US Magnesium facility at Rowley, in Tooele County on the Great Salt Lake. Utah bought the 4,500-acre site earlier this year for $30 million. Mariana is to map a phased restart of lithium and magnesium extraction there, using newer, non-evaporative, lower-water technology.
Governor Spencer Cox called the choice a “significant win,” arguing that Utah is replacing a legacy polluter with an operator whose technology would protect the lake’s water and whose royalties could fund cleanup of the Superfund site instead of passing that cost to taxpayers. Mariana, which already runs Copper One in San Juan County, would replace the plant’s large industrial solar-evaporation diversions with a new low-water processing system.
Co-founder and CEO Turner Caldwell described a proposed, phased restart of lithium and magnesium production that prioritizes water conservation, cuts historically difficult air and wastewater emissions, and brings remediation funding forward sooner. The company has agreed to operate under a modernized lease from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. Utah and Mariana are still working to finalize the specific redevelopment terms, including the regulatory frameworks and milestones for the site’s updates and cleanup.
That $30 million is what the state paid for the site. Separately, Shanghai Metals Market reported Mariana as the bidder for remaining Rowley assets at $16.5 million in cash plus royalties.
Source: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News (via KSL)
US Magnesium had run the Rowley plant for decades before it ceased mineral operations five years ago after equipment failures, and filed for bankruptcy last year. The company and the state had clashed over pollution and water use; Utah claimed that 50,000 to 80,000 acre-feet of water was still leaving the Great Salt Lake each year even when minerals were not being extracted.
When the assets went to auction in January, Utah outbid LiMag Holdings, a company with ties to US Magnesium’s primary owner, and took the property together with nearly 145,000 acre-feet of water rights. The legislature funded the purchase from a rainy-day account. In February, environmental quality commissioner Tim Davis warned that the state had also taken on a Superfund site that would likely take years, and significant cost, to clean up.
