Often lumped in with the rare earths family, scandium has long been considered an ‘if’ metal
Its primary use has been as an alloy with aluminium but solid oxide fuel cells are an important growth area
Production is scanty but demand is expected to reach US$802m by 2027 at a CAGR of 7.6%
There aren’t too many geologists in the world that know a lot about scandium – there are few reliable sources of it, very limited adoption in commercial applications and it’s usually produced as a by-product to other metals (nickel, uranium, and titanium).
Global production of scandium is scanty to say the least, ranging between 15 to 20 tonnes per year in the form of scandium oxide with the top producers being Russia, China and the Philippines.
Often lumped in with the rare earths family, the light silvery metal has long been considered…