The company was founded in 1934, as the British Magnesium (Elektronmetal) Ltd. In 1935 it became Magnesium Elektron Ltd, formed as a joint venture between
ICI (48%),
I.G. Farbenindustrie (30%) and
F.A. Hughes & Co (22%). It started by producing
Elektron (or Elektronmetall) under licence. Elektron was first developed in 1908 by
Gustav Pistor and
Wilhelm Moschel at the Bitterfeld works of Chemische Fabrik
Griesheim-Elektron (CFGE or CFG), whose headquarters was in
Griesheim am Main, Germany. In 1936, the company opened a factory on Lumns Lane at
Clifton Junction, to the north west of
Manchester, to produce magnesium metal. A second plant near
Burnley began operation in 1943. During the
Second World War, the company made an important contribution to the nation's war effort producing thousands of tons of magnesium metal alloys for the aircraft industry. During the late 1940s, the company diversified into the production of zirconium and its compounds, and was acquired by the
Distillers Company in 1951.
Zirconium carbonate production commenced in 1956, to meet a growing demand from the paint, paper and textile industries. In the 1950s MEL developed magnesium alloys (known collectively as
magnox) with non-
oxidising properties for use in the cladding of
fuel rods for the UK's
magnox nuclear power stations. The production of
hafnium metal for use in
Britain's nuclear submarines began in 1958. In 1961, Magnesium Elektron became a wholly owned subsidiary of the
British Aluminium Company. In 1996, the company was sold to the
Luxfer Group. ==References==