Page 170 - CW E-Magazine (5-8-2025)

Special Report

83,000-tpa. Some new projects are also Pricing 350-tpa in 2026 and 1,100-tpa in 2031.
underway. KMML is the only producer Scandium is an expensive material. This equals to 55,000-tonnes of 2%
using the chloride route (all others use the The price is mostly quoted on basis of Sc-Al master alloy. But the feasibility of
sulphate route). Assuming that 8-10 tonnes the oxide and its purity. Scandium metal such volumes needs to be verifi ed.
of acid is generated per tonne of TiO by as such has very small uses. Recent prices
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sulphate route, containing 10-25 mg/litre (per kg) in China (as of April/May 2025) Bloom Energy, the largest producer of
Sc O , the potential is 580-600 kg/year. are as follows: SOFCs, has a stated capacity of 1 GW per
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With KMML’s capacity at 40,000-tpa and  Sc O 99.9% - $658. year or 10,000 modules of 100-kW each.
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the waste acid containing 60-140 mg/litre  Sc O 99.99% - $746. A 2020 report indicated that each module
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of oxides, the Sc O potential is about  Scandium metal 99.9% - $313,879. may have 13-15 kg of Sc O . Thus the
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1,200 kg/yr. The technology to recover  Scandium metal 99.999% - $522,223. demand for oxide would be around 130-150
Sc from acid wastes is based on solvent  Scandium alum alloy 2% - $30.70. tpa by Bloom Energy alone. But this does
extraction and ion exchange. not reconcile with numbers put out by the
At these prices it appears viable to pro- USGS (10-15 tonnes production).
Others duce Sc O from TiO waste acid (as in
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Ukraine has U-Fe deposits in its China); from Nickel production sources Reconciliation of demand-supply is
Nova mines. The scandium resource (as in Philippines) and alumina red mud rendered diffi cult given the fragmented
was estimated to be 7.9-mt, grading 105 (as planned by EU). A project in Australia nature of information from diverse sourc-
ppm scandium. Scandium recovery dates based on nickel ores indicates an estimated es; information not uniformly dated; and
since Soviet era and the mines closed in cost of $557/kg Sc O . the fact that import-export statistics are
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2002 for various reasons. Apparently of no help (as Sc is combined with other
many tons of oxides were produced over Demand-supply trends REE). Sc O may be produced, say, in
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a period of time under Russian control. Current capacity for Sc O is about Philippines, refi ned another country and
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122-tpa, but in the next fi ve years, the ex- the product produced in third country and
In Kazakhstan most information was pected additional capacity is 356-tpa. Thus shipped to the fi nal user in fourth.
classifi ed, and declassifi cation has been it may be expected that worldwide total
done partially. Scandium is produced could rise to between 480-tpa to 520-tpa – CONCLUSION
from uranium tailings, and a pilot project a very big leap and that will shake up the Scandium appears to be a rare earth that
was started in 2013-14 and was slated to world of aluminium metal products. The is available from many sources worldwide.
produce 5-tpa of oxides. prediction of future production however is Although the concentration are low in the
fraught with many caveats. resources, it is still viable to extract it.
Sumitomo Phillipines produces
Sc O from nickel-cobalt operations. The EU Sc market is forecast to in- Major resources like TiO waste
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Production capacity is ~7.5-tpa and is crease from 25-tpa Sc O in 2020 to acids and red mud from alumina production
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mostly exported to USA. are available in many countries, includ-
Table 6: Production capacity of ing Europe, USA, India, Russia, China,
Rio Tinto Canada has started trial pro- Sc O [tpa] etc. Technology for recovery from TiO
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duction capacity of 3-tpa of Sc O to be Current Expected waste acid is well established in China.
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ramped up gradually. Scandium Canada capacity addition Technology developments from red mud
Ltd. is another mine development project China 100 100 are at take-off stage in Europe. The extrac-
in Crater Lake area in Quebec. Philippines 7.5 tion of ores and tailings is at level which
Russia 1.5 19 requires large investments at the stage of
In USA, Niocorp Developments Canada 3 mining and production. The conversion of
Ltd.’s Elk Creek project is awaiting fur- Kazakhstan 5 oxide to Al-Sc master alloy is commercial
ther funding. The estimated potential is Others 5 in China. Other countries need surge in
11,337-tonnes of Sc O besides other R&D eff orts.
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rare earths over a 30-year period. Europe 43
Australia 77 For further reading
PT Vale Indonesia, a large nickel USA 100 Rare earths: Applications and market
producer, has indicated plans to recover Indonesia 17 scenario, Chemical Weekly, October 19,
scandium. Total 122 356 2021.
170 Chemical Weekly August 5, 2025
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