<article><p class="lead">Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto is moving closer to becoming the world's first large producer of critical metal scandium, as evolving material requirements and an increasing focus on supply chain security open up new potential growth areas.</p><p>Light transition metal scandium has been used in niche, electronic and defence applications — including aluminium aerospace alloys — for over three decades, and more recently in clean energy generation. But supply has been limited to low-volume by-product streams from mining operations in Asia-Pacific and Russia.</p><p>"We are progressing plans for industrial-scale production that will draw on Rio Tinto's position as a leading aluminium producer to provide not only a reliable source for scandium oxide from North America but also for aluminium scandium alloys," Rio Tinto's vice-president for corporate relations Todd Malan told delegates at a recent joint US-Canadian government online conference on supporting critical mineral supply chains. </p><p>Rio Tinto is producing scandium oxide to commercial specification and aluminium scandium alloy at a pilot plant at its Sorel Tracy metallurgical plant in Quebec, and is in advanced discussions with potential customers. The company is using a process developed to extract it from waste streams from the plant, which produces titanium dioxide feedstock, pig iron, steel and ferrous powders. Located 70km from Montreal, Sorel Tracy processes ore from the Havre-Saint-Pierre mining complex in eastern Quebec province. </p><p>US energy firm Bloom Energy, which is the largest single scandium oxide consumer, and other companies are developing solid oxide fuel cell power supply solutions for a range of sectors, including data and distribution centres, commercial vehicles, hydrogen production and fuelling stations, light industry, healthcare and emergency response. Solid oxide fuel cells generate electricity from a chemical reaction fuelled by sources such as natural gas or biogas. </p><p>Other existing applications for scandium include sporting equipment, high-intensity lighting and ceramics. It also has critical but low-volume applications in photonics (lasers) and next generation communication networks. And research is under way into the use of scandium aluminium nitride in power electronics.</p><h3>Where no market has gone before </h3><p class="lead">The potential of aluminium scandium alloys in the aerospace and transportation industry has been well understood for decades. But what has likely been lacking is a clear path to the supply growth needed from the current tens to hundreds of tons of oxide per year, and with it a production cost basis to support a mass application where development timelines run into decades.</p><p>It has the potential to provide light weighting properties to rival composites and titanium alloys across a wide range of applications. But much depends upon the eventual price because there has never been an organised transparent market as both production (by-product) and demand have been low volume and opaque. And as scandium has been produced as a by-product of rare earth mining it was exposed to the same volatility risks as rare earth prices, which spiked in 2010 on political factors and then slumped.</p><p>Aluminium scandium alloys could find a new growth area in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, which is the major demand driver for rare earths. In electric and hybrid vehicles weight reduction is critical to reducing the size and cost of batteries. And EV materials need stronger resistance to electricity and corrosion. Competition between structural materials, metals, alloys and composites is intense, and the demands on their properties across all sectors will only increase.</p><p class="bylines"><i>By Caroline Messecar</i></p></article>
