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us is required, and magnesium is required

Here Are Our Top 10 Stories From 2025

details on where millions of gallons of new water rights would be going. Read the full story here. No. 5 - Utah demands US Magnesium stop pumping massive amounts of water from the Great Salt Lake (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium...
December 31, 2025

What US Magnesium’s shutdown could mean for the nation’s supply chain — and Utah’s air

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The piles at US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024.
from the Great Salt Lake. Now, the mineral’s future looks uncertain. The half-century-old and financially troubled US Magnesium, situated on the west shore of Utah’s famed saline lake, could see its smelting plant shutter for good, and its longstanding...
December 16, 2025

US Magnesium’s bankruptcy leaves a looming question: What happens to the Great Salt Lake cleanup?

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium facility, which has ceased operations for over a year, may take at least $100 million to clean up, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
worry history may repeat itself for one of the nation’s biggest polluters. Bill Johnson has witnessed the extent of US Magnesium’s pollution up close. He’s seen the wastewater pond that was so acidic it bubbled like a cauldron. He noted where the...
December 9, 2025

How much water will Utah have to save to protect the Great Salt Lake by the 2034 Winter Olympics?

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Persisting drought conditions continue to drop water levels at The Great Salt Lake exposing reef-like structures made up of calcium and magnesium carbonate deposits called bioherms that resemble coral as seen on Wednesday, October. 1, 2025.
Utah pledged to save the Great Salt Lake by the time it hosts the Olympics. Is it possible? SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox recently stood on the edge of Farmington Bay, surrounded by some of Utah’s most wealthy and powerful people. He announced a...
October 22, 2025

US Magnesium bankruptcy delays state plans to cut off Great Salt Lake water access

(Fox 13)
SALT LAKE CITY — A hearing to decide whether to terminate US Magnesium's leases on the Great Salt Lake has been delayed in light of the company's bankruptcy filing. "Due to US Magnesium’s bankruptcy filing, today’s administrative hearing on the...
September 29, 2025

US Magnesium files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as Utah seeks to shutter operations

SALT LAKE CITY — US Magnesium, which operates a facility along Utah's Great Salt Lake, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. The move comes weeks after Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands said it was seeking to terminate...
September 11, 2025

Utah demands US Magnesium stop pumping massive amounts of water from the Great Salt Lake

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium dike north of Stansbury Island on Saturday, March 26, 2022.
The company is drowning in debt, and the state has resumed actions to revoke its decades-old lease. US Magnesium’s production plant has been mothballed for years as it battles environmental regulatory actions, equipment failures, receding Great Salt...
September 4, 2025

Utah seeks to shut down US Magnesium's operations on Great Salt Lake

(Fox 13)
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands will seek to terminate US Magnesium's leases to operate on the Great Salt Lake after settlement discussions fell apart, FOX 13 News has learned. In a court filing in a legal battle...
August 18, 2025

Utah in settlement talks with U.S. Magnesium over 'acid pond' near Great Salt Lake

ROWLEY, Utah — The state of Utah is now engaged in settlement talks with U.S. Magnesium, one of the state’s largest mineral extraction companies operating on the Great Salt Lake. Utah’s Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands confirmed to FOX 13 News...
January 2, 2025

Our most engaging stories of 2024

File -- Mark Milligan, with the Utah Geological Survey, takes a photo of a mound formed by the mineral mirabilite on the shores of the Great Salt Lake on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. (Scott G. Winterton/Deseret News)
on a wall to keep ‘highly acidic’ waste away from the Great Salt Lake. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday,...
December 26, 2024

Utah argues US Magnesium is ‘unable or unwilling’ to protect the Great Salt Lake as judge appoints outsider to run the company

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) US Magnesium, which has ceased operations at the magnesium plant on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake, is pictured on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. On Friday, a Utah judge appointed a receiver to take over the company, after state officials argued it was failing to do work required under a 2021 settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
US Magnesium says it stopped building a retaining wall meant to keep toxic waste out of the Great Salt Lake because it’s no longer mining magnesium and therefore, according to the company, is not creating waste to mitigate. State and federal agencies...
December 20, 2024

Why work has stopped on a wall to keep ‘highly acidic’ waste away from the Great Salt Lake

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The US Magnesium dike north of Stansbury Island on Saturday, March 26, 2022.
US Magnesium was required to install a massive underground wall to keep “highly acidic” waste away from the lake, under agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency. US Magnesium acknowledges it has stopped working on a massive hydraulic...
December 16, 2024

West Haven-based Trace Minerals supports latest Great Salt Lake legislation

This undated photo shows Trace Minerals' harvesting facility, located near the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Photo courtesy Trace Minerals
WEST HAVEN — House Bill 453, which establishes new parameters for mineral extraction companies operating on the Great Salt Lake, was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox last month. And its passing was heralded as a victory by legislators on both sides...
April 17, 2024

Mineral companies use 7% of Great Salt Lake’s water. Here’s how a bill would change their business.

back on Compass’s complaints Environmental groups, Utah resource managers, the Great Salt Lake Commissioner and even US Magnesium — the second-largest extractor on the lake — all largely spoke in favor of the bill. Conspicuously absent was a lobbyist...
February 9, 2024

A big bill on the Great Salt Lake advances after a tense hearing in the Utah legislature

SALT LAKE CITY — A significant piece of legislation on the Great Salt Lake is advancing on Utah's Capitol Hill after a tense hearing. House Bill 453, sponsored by Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, is aimed at getting more water into the lake, which...
February 8, 2024

SLC mayoral candidate Michael Valentine answers 10 questions about Great Salt Lake

it has been fair that individuals have been blamed for the lake’s decline when Alfalfa farmers and corporations like US Magnesium have been the greatest water offenders. 6.What should the state and federal government do to help save the lake? End farm...
September 27, 2023

New lithium company wants billions of gallons from Great Salt Lake, but says it will put it all back

dramatically.” Harvesters currently operating on the Great Salt Lake are also looking to cash in on the lithium frenzy. US Magnesium has a temporary agreement in place with DNR to harvest the material from its existing waste piles. And Kansas-based...
September 7, 2023

Utah lawmakers plan to reevaluate water rights held by mineral companies on the Great Salt Lake

FILE: Water levels are pictured in the Great Salt Lake on Thursday, July 20, 2023. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
extraction claim. KSL Newsradio has reached out to Compass Minerals for comment but has not yet received a response. US Magnesium is another company that could be affected if this proposed legislation became law. The company issued the following...
August 24, 2023

Utah legislature to re-examine mineral extraction on Great Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah State Legislature is planning to re-examine mineral extraction on the Great Salt Lake as the state races to reverse water level declines. "We need to look at how much water is being extracted from the lake. We need to look at...
August 23, 2023

Mining company responds to concerns about its plans at Great Salt Lake, but lawmakers aren’t happy

Following lithium “dust-up,” powerful legislator prepares to slap mineral extractors with unprecedented restrictions, including limits on how much lake water they can use. Compass Minerals has clapped back against allegations it improperly extracted...
August 17, 2023

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