Wanted: Ions at Large – The Magnesium Story 

When police were called to a “swimming pond incident,” the situation quickly became… complex. As the cartoon shows, lithium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, chloride and sulphate are officially “ions at large” — dangerously charged and refusing to vacate. It’s a humorous take on chemistry, but for EcoMag, managing these charged characters is very serious business. 

In solar salt bitterns — the concentrated brine left after salt production — magnesium doesn’t sit quietly on its own. It competes, bonds, forms complexes and interacts with other ions like calcium, sulphate and chloride. Some cause hardness, some resist precipitation, and others interfere with purity. Recovering high-value magnesium products requires understanding exactly how these ions behave in solution and how to selectively separate magnesium from the crowd. 

EcoMag’s waste-to-resource technology is designed to do exactly that. Instead of allowing magnesium-rich bitterns to be discharged, we recover and transform this “wanted” ion into high-purity magnesium carbonate, magnesium oxide, magnesium hydroxide and downstream organics. Through controlled precipitation, purification and zero-discharge processing, magnesium is captured and converted into products that serve nutraceutical, industrial and fire-retardant markets — all with a lower carbon footprint and full traceability. 

So while the cartoon may suggest calling the authorities, at EcoMag we don’t chase ions — we understand them. With the right chemistry and engineered process design, even the most complex ionic systems can be managed sustainably, turning waste streams into globally demanded magnesium products