At present, global consumers of scandium still depend on ex-Soviet stockpiles, and the global scandium supply is very short. It is mainly sourced as a byproduct of other metals (usually titanium, uranium or tungsten). Nowadays, the commercial use of scandium is extremely restricted.
Nevertheless, the demand for scandium from such end-use sectors as fuel cells and aerospace has boosted over the past several years. The increased demand for scandium from the sport equipment industry also makes considerable contribution to the growth of the scandium market. However, manufacturers of sport equipment tend to shift to other alternative materials given the scandium scarcity.
Worldwide scandium supply sources
The remains of red mud from the Bayer process represent the potential source of cost-effective scandium production.
Russia, China, Ukraine and Kazakhstan were the main scandium producers in 2012.
Currently, the annual global supply of scandium is estimated between 2-10 tonnes. The production volume does not meet the potential demand. Scandium-aluminium alloys make up the largest market segment.
However, several existing scandium projects, for instance, EMS and Taking Metallica can bring better opportunities for the future industry development. Such Australian deposits as Kokomo, Lucknow and Nyngan are expected to be developed in the upcoming years.
Treibacher Industrie AG, OJSC MAST, Less Common Metals, Sunc International, Beijing Cerametek Materials, Cathay Advanced Materials, Haihang Industry, Alfa Aesar and Avalon Rare Metals are amid prominent companies active on the world scandium arena.
The prices for scandium across the world are rather high: they vary between USD 2,000 and USD 6,000 per kilogram, depending on the quantity and purity of the product. Scandium prices tend to show an upward tendency from year to year given the low yearly output along with few abundant scandium deposits worldwide.
More information on the scandium market can be found in the report “Scandium Global Market Research”.