OREANDA-NEWS. August 28, 2015. CJSC NikoMag, RUSNANO’s portfolio company, has launched a plant in Volgograd to produce nanostructured magnesium hydroxide (effective flame retardant), high-purity magnesium oxide (used in transformer steel and rubber production), and magnesium chloride used in oil and gas production, construction materials, deicing structures and devices made from different materials.

This is the 59th RUSNANO project in the nanotechnology industry formation. The products of the plant have a high import replacement potential and are in demand in the global market.

The opening ceremony was attended by Andrey Bocharov, Governor of Volgograd Region, Herman Gref, Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank of Russia, Anatoly Chubais, Chairman of the Executive Board of RUSNANO, and Eldor Azizov, CEO of LLC NIKOCHEM.

CJSC NikoMag, being a part of NIKOCHEM Group, is a joint project of Kaustik, RUSNANO and Sberbank of Russia. The project budget is 3.8 billion rubles, with RUSNANO’s share amounting to 1.3 billion.

By the time the plant reaches it design capacity, the output of magnesium hydroxide will amount to 25 thousand tons per year, and the output of magnesium oxide will be 30 thousand tons per year.

Nanostructured high-purity magnesium hydroxide is widely used as a filler and flame retardant (a substance reducing the flammability of materials) in cable plastic compound and non-flammable polymer composite material production. When introduced into the structure of polymer compounds, it ensures their enhanced properties, higher fire resistance and environmental safety as compared to existing analogs.

High-purity magnesium oxide, the company’s second core product, is used in transformer steel and rubber production, in leather currying and drilling muds. NikoMag’s magnesium oxide is significantly superior to competitor products in terms of purity and ignition loss.

Russia has not had any large-scale production of high quality magnesium oxide before. At the same time, the global consumption of transformer steel has been on the rise year over year, and NLMK, its largest manufacturer, is located in Russia. The commissioning of NikoMag plant will make it possible to meet the demand not only of the manufacturers in that industry, but also that of rubber manufacturers.