Romania’s Verde Magnesium has launched procurement for equipment for its planned primary-magnesium operation, advancing a project designated a Strategic Project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. The company said the package covers material preparation, aluminothermic reduction, research and development, and automation.
The new procurement follows earlier equipment packages for refining and casting. Verde Magnesium intends the equipment and planned operations to help build a European primary-magnesium chain linking raw-material extraction, metallurgical conversion, refining and industrial customers. The project’s Strategic Project status applies to both extraction and processing.
Europe remains highly dependent on imported magnesium. The project fits the EU effort to reduce excessive dependence on individual external suppliers for strategic materials, while positioning the operation as an industrial-policy asset as well as a mining and processing project.
Production plans and supply considerations
Verde Magnesium’s plans envisage production beginning at about 360 tonnes a year in 2028, rising to around 30,000 tonnes a year in 2031. The project could potentially produce 90,000 tonnes a year by 2036; these are planned levels, not current output.
Magnesium is used in aluminium alloys, automotive lightweighting, aerospace, defence and other metallurgical applications. Europe’s vulnerability to supply disruption therefore concerns both access to raw materials and manufacturing security.
Magnesium production is power- and heat-intensive, and European projects must compete with established global supply chains while meeting stricter carbon and environmental standards. Verde Magnesium’s competitiveness will depend on electricity pricing, process efficiency, reagent sourcing and logistics, as well as securing premium customers that value European origin and supply security.
The next milestones are equipment awards, financing, construction sequencing and credible offtake commitments. If procurement leads to construction on schedule, the project would provide Southeast Europe with new processing capacity under EU critical-materials policy.
