Robert Leroy Parker (1866-1908), also known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber during the late 1800s. He was notorious for being the leader of the “Wild Bunch”, a gang of criminal outlaws in the Old West. Parker’s life and death has been a main element in many “Wild West” films and literature to this day.

Basic Magnesium, Inc. (BMI) formed in June 1941 as a joint venture between Basic Refractories, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio and Magnesium Elektron, Limited of England. Basic Refractories, Inc. owned mining claims in Gabbs Valley, Nye County, Nevada, which produced the magnesite and brucite needed to produce magnesium metal. Magnesium Elektron, Limited owned the patent for the electrolytic process of extracting metallic magnesium from these minerals.