Chalk Rebels Manufacturing Process

There are two ways to produce magnesium carbonate. One is mining-based and starts by digging up raw magnesite from the earth; the other is synthesised and starts with seawater. We use the second method to produce.

Overall, we can say that the mining-based process is more suited for industrial applications, e.g., in the steel production industry where magnesium carbonate is used in refraction vessels.

The second, cleaner, process is preferred in applications where extra pure magnesium carbonate is necessary, e.g., for use in the pharmaceutical industry or for human or animal consumption. Magnesium carbonate is also a common food additive.

We work with desalination plants that take seawater and turn it into drinking water and salt. This process produces a waste-product called brine that is still full of minerals. This brine is actually used as one of the inputs for our production process.

We extract our favourite mineral, MgCO3 from this brine and end up with a magnesium hydroxide slurry, which is then carbonated, hydrolysed, dried, filtered, and milled into different forms of magnesium carbonate powder.

For the Upsalite® component in our chalk, we actually go one step further and re-carbonate the chalk in a proprietary process to turn it into a mesoporous form of magnesium carbonate that boosts the performance in our Magic Chalk and Smooth Chalk products.

We then take all these milled forms of MgCO3 and create our own custom blends for climbers. This last step is where the magic happens: because we use very clean magnesium carbonate to start with and re-blend it, we can control the way the chalk feels on the hands. From extra-smooth to extra-chunky.

The end result is an extra clean product that can be completely customised in terms of feeling. Guaranteeing cleanliness, maximum performance, and great feeling!

And because we start from a very clean source, we can guarantee low levels of contaminants in our chalk.