The company extracts the critical mineral as a byproduct from its titanium dioxide production.
Mining giant Rio Tinto has secured an investment of roughly $18 million (C$25 million) from the Canada Growth Fund (CGF) to scale up scandium oxide production at its Sorel-Tracy facility in Quebec. The investment is part of Canada’s new Critical Minerals Production Alliance (CMPA), unveiled by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, which unlocks 26 projects worth roughly $4.6 billion in partnership with nine allied nations, including the United States, Australia, and Germany.
Scandium is prized for its ability to strengthen aluminum alloys used in aircraft and defense applications, as well as for its role in solid oxide fuel cells. Rio Tinto’s process extracts scandium from titanium dioxide waste, reducing the need for new mining and minimizing environmental impact, the company said. Under the deal, the Government of Canada will purchase a volume of scandium through an offtake agreement and work with Rio Tinto on marketing and storage.
In 2022, Rio Tinto became the first North American producer of scandium oxide and has since scaled up production (we reported). The United States recently added the element to its national stockpile and plans to source material from Rio Tinto’s operation.
The announcement for the investment by the Canada Growth Fund was made at the G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Toronto, where Minister Hogson also signed a new Canada–Australia Joint Declaration on Critical Minerals Collaboration, alongside Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King (we reported). The pact links Australia’s upstream mining expertise with Canada’s advanced processing capacity and North American market access.
Photo: Suradech14 via Canva
