Global miner Rio Tinto has announced plans to become North America’s first producer of high-quality scandium oxide, with construction underway of a commercial-scale demonstration plant at its Rio Tinto Fer et Titane metallurgical complex in Quebec, Canada.
The modular plant, with initial capacity of 3tpa scandium oxide equal to about 20% of global demand, is expected to begin commercial supply in the June 2021 qtr.
Rio Tinto’s $US6M investment will be complemented by about $0.65M from Quebec’s critical and strategic minerals plan.
The Sorel-Tracy plant will use RTFT’s innovative process to extract high-purity scandium oxide from the waste streams of titanium dioxide production, with no need for additional mining at its Lac Tio opencut ilmenite mine in Havre-Saint-Pierre.