Australian Scandium Supply – A Paradigm Shift for a Strategic Metal

Research over many decades has confirmed the enormous value that scandium can deliver as an alloying agent for aluminum.

Aluminum-scandium alloys exhibit unparalleled performance across key functional properties, including low density, excellent corrosion resistance, improved weldability and increased thermal conductivity.  These attributes make Al-Sc alloys one of the most promising candidates for use in high performance, light-weight materials across a wide range of applications in aerospace and other industries.

Yet, today, Al-Sc alloy remains a material used in only niche applications, due to both supply constraints and cost.  The presentation will examine a number of features of the global scandium market that have hindered its development and resulted in extremely high costs of production and a fragmented supply chain.

The presentation will focus on a number of scandium projects announced in Australia in recent years and their potential to redefine the global scandium market.  Clean TeQ’s Syerston Project in Australia will be presented as a case study to demonstrate some of the development steps required to bring these sources of supply to market.

The presentation will demonstrate that these large, high-grade and geologically unique resources provide the global aerospace sector with an opportunity to secure reliable, long-term and low-cost scandium oxide from developed world sources for decades to come, and at prices that make Al-Sc alloys readily substitutable with current generation alloys.  To achieve that outcome both customers and suppliers will need to work collaboratively to deliver a value proposition that is compelling for the aerospace sector.