Scandium

Overview

Scandium is element 21, a light metal with a density of 2.99 g/cm³.¹ It is often grouped with the rare earths because it is chemically similar, but it does not occur in economic concentrations in the same geological settings as the lanthanides and yttrium.²

Scandium is not scarce in the crust, but it is widely dispersed: it occurs in minute quantities in more than 800 mineral species.¹ Economically recoverable scandium therefore comes almost entirely as a by-product, and the market is tiny. The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that the world consumed about 60 t of scandium oxide in 2025, mainly in aerospace alloys, other alloys and solid oxide fuel cells.³

Scandium is on the US 2025 List of Critical Minerals and on the EU list of critical raw materials.⁴⁵

Where it comes from

In 2025 scandium was produced exclusively as a by-product, primarily from nickel and titanium process streams and from previously processed tailings and residues.³ The US government lists cobalt, nickel, titanium and zirconium as its potential host commodities.⁴ Scandium can also be recovered from the rare mineral thortveitite or from uranium mill tailings.¹

Industry estimates put global scandium oxide capacity at more than 90 t a year in 2025 and production at about 80 t. China was the leading producer. Scandium materials were also produced in the Philippines and shipped to Japan for refining into scandium oxide.³

Global reserves are not quantified. Australia reported about 34,000 t of scandium in accessible Economic Demonstrated Resources as of December 2023, of which 12,000 t were JORC-compliant or equivalent reserves. Resources have also been identified in Canada, China, Finland, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine and the United States.³

New supply outside China is small but growing:

• In Canada, a producer in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, is expanding scandium oxide capacity to 9 t a year with backing from the Canada Growth Fund and an offtake agreement with the Government of Canada (October 2025).³
• In Australia, the Nyngan scandium project in New South Wales received a mining licence in October 2025.³
• In the United States, scandium was not mined or recovered commercially in 2025. Small-scale metal refining capacity exists in Ames, Iowa, and Tolleson, Arizona, and more is under development in Urbana, Illinois, and at the Elk Creek project in Nebraska.³

What it is used for

• Aluminum-scandium alloys. Aerospace alloys were a principal use in 2025, and aluminum-scandium alloys have been used in Russian MiG fighter aircraft, high-end bicycle frames and baseball bats.³¹
• Solid oxide fuel cells. Scandium is used in solid oxide fuel cells for large-scale power generation and backup power for critical infrastructure.³
• Lighting. Scandium iodide is added to mercury vapor lamps to give an efficient, sunlight-like light used in film and television work.¹
• Other uses include electronics, alloys for military equipment and sporting goods, and the radioisotope scandium-46 as a tracer in oil refining.³¹ NASA research has also tested scandia with yttria as a zirconia stabilizer for higher-temperature thermal barrier coatings.⁶

Grades and forms

Scandium is traded as high-purity oxide, as metal and as aluminum-scandium master alloy. USGS tracks 99.99% oxide powder, 99.999% metal ingot and aluminum-scandium alloy containing 2% scandium.³ Metal is made by reducing scandium fluoride with calcium or by electrolysis of molten chloride salts.¹

Trade and policy

The United States imports all of its scandium. There are no US trade codes for scandium alone, but shipping records for 2021–24 show scandium oxide imports from Japan (89%) and China (11%); oxide refined in Japan from Philippine feedstock is counted as Japanese.³

As of December 2025 the April 2025 licensing requirement for scandium remained in effect, although China had begun issuing general licences to selected exporters.³

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

No scandium is recycled.³ In high-performance alloys, high-strength titanium and aluminum alloys and carbon-fiber materials can substitute for scandium alloys, but in some applications that rely on scandium's unique properties no substitute exists.³

Sources

1. Scandium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. The Rare-Earth Elements: Vital to Modern Technologies and Lifestyles (Fact Sheet 2014–3078). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

3. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Scandium. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸

4. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

5. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

6. Scandia-and-Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia for Thermal Barriers. NASA Technical Reports Server, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

7. Announcement No. 18 of 2025 on implementing export control on some medium and heavy rare earth related items. Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

8. China issues first batch of streamlined rare earth export licences, source says. Reuters via Yahoo Finance, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩