The Pidgeon process is a practical method for smelting magnesium. The most common method involves the raw material, dolomite being fed into an externally heated reduction tank and then thermally reduced to metallic magnesium using 75% ferrosilicon as a reducing agent in a vacuum. Overall the processes in magnesium smelting via the Pidgeon process involve dolomite calcination, grinding and pelleting, and vacuum thermal reduction. Besides the Pidgeon process, electrolysis of magnesium chloride for commercial production of magnesium is also used, at one point in time accounting for 75% of the world's magnesium production.
Vapor-deposited magnesium crystals from the Pidgeon process
Flow chart showing steps taken during the Pidgeon process
Dolomite is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally CaMg(CO3)2. The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite (see Dolomite (rock)). An alternative name sometimes used for the dolomitic rock type is dolostone.
Dolomite (white) on talc
Dolomite and calcite look similar under a microscope, but thin sections can be etched and stained in order to identify the minerals. Photomicrograph of a thin section in cross and plane polarised light: the brighter mineral grains in the picture are dolomite, and the darker grains are calcite.
Cristallo in the Dolomites mountain range near Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The Dolomite Mountains were named after the mineral.
