The Pioneer Magnesia Works was established in 1915 at Kharagodha in the Little Rann (Desert) of Kutch. Prior to that the two founders, Behramji Lalkaka, Esq., JP, and his cousin the Hon'ble Sardar Sir Rustom Vakil, had started making magnesium chloride by carting the bitterns from that region all the way to Ahmedabad by train in 1913, for further process. By 1915 these two gentlemen ventured forth into the wild and arid region of Kharagodha, where the raw material "bitterns" was available. It was considered the best magnesium chloride in the world. It was exported all over the British Empire.