Magnesium alloys have become more and more important for lightweight structural and medical applications because of their high specific strength and biocompatible as well as biodegradable properties. Selective Laser Melting (SLM®) as a new processing route for magnesium alloys is of great interest since it offers unique opportunities to create individual and complex shaped parts and therefore the production of new innovative products for biomedical and technical applications. In the last few years the feasibility of Selective Laser Melting of magnesium alloys was successfully proven and suitable alloys were identified. To establish the first industrial magnesium alloy powder for the Selective Laser Melting process, investigations on Elektron® MAP43 magnesium alloy powders from Magnesium Elektron Powders were undertaken. The aim of the investigations was to identify suitable particles size distribution for the powder material as well as to establish suitable parameter sets and build strategies to manufacture specimens reaching a density of > 99 \%. Also first mechanical properties and the resulting microstructure were determined. This contribution presents the current results and describes the next steps for an introduction of magnesium alloys into an industrial SLM® process.