Scandium

Scandium is an element that has many powerful uses in both civilian and defense technologies. The US government has designated scandium as “critical” to the US because of the many applications that require scandium and also because the US is 100% dependent upon foreign imports of scandium.  NioCorp plans to address that dependency with the scandium we intend to produce in southeast Nebraska.

One of scandium’s most important uses is as an additive to aluminum.  When combined with aluminum in very small quantities — typically less than one percent by weight — scandium produces an alloy with significantly more strength and corrosion resistance. Because of its increased strength, this allows for more efficient use of the alloy in applications such as electric vehicles and commercial aviation.  That can significantly reduce weight, which increases range, fuel economy, and payload (especially in defense aviation).

For example, between $1.0-$1.5 million of scandium oxide in a single airliner offers $10-15 million in net present value fuel savings.

Aluminum-scandium alloy delivers another important benefit:  the alloy can be reliably welded, which can virtually revolutionize manfacturing operations in both surface and air transportation.

Scandium is also used in  environmentally preferred Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, an electricity production technology with high reliability and relatively low air emissions.

Only about 25 tonnes of scandium is produced globally at present, which severely restricts scandium’s use. As more supply is brought online — including in Nebraska — more of scandium’s latent demand can be filled.

Below is an independent estimate of global scandium demand, assuming that sufficient scandium supply is available to meet demand.

Scandium and its Prospective Markets

• Forecast demand for scandium (117 tpy by 2026) greatly exceeds current supply (25 tonnes/year) and exceeds NioCorp’s potential annual scandium production.
  • Solid oxide fuel cell use of Scandium (⋍22 tpy) is forecast to grow at 23% CAGR
  • Aerospace + industrial use in 2022 (⋍5 tpy) is forecast to reach 50tpy over next 5 years
• Momentum is building in the market, with new pilot production from Rio Tinto and planned production from others.
• Potential in EV/Automotive:  Net pounds of aluminum per light duty vehicle is forecast to increase from 459 lbs. in 2020 to 570 lbs. in 2030,3 representing a large potential for scandium use in aluminum-scandium alloys, even at low overall penetration; just 10% of this volume using 0.1% scandium would mean 700 tons/year scandium demand.

Demand Drivers for Scandium

To learn more about the element Scandium, please see the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Scandium page here.