Rio Tinto opens new scandium plant in Canada
June 17 2021 - 11:28AM
Business Wire
Rio Tinto has started operations at a new commercial scale
demonstration plant to produce high-quality scandium oxide at its
Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) metallurgical complex in
Sorel-Tracy, Quebec.
The $6 million project, in which the Government of Quebec
contributed approximately $650,000 through the Quebec Plan for the
Development of Critical and Strategic Minerals, was completed on
time and on budget, less than six months after the start of
construction.
Six employees have been hired to operate the plant, which uses
an innovative process developed by RTFT to extract high purity
scandium oxide from the waste streams of titanium dioxide
production, without the need for any additional mining.
Commissioning work is now being undertaken as production ramps
up to a capacity of three tonnes of scandium oxide per year. RTFT
is already considering the potential for further investments to add
additional modules in line with market demand.
Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium managing director Stéphane Leblanc
said: “For the first time, customers will benefit from a North
American supply of scandium oxide for applications in solid oxide
fuel cells, lasers, lighting products or as an additive to produce
high-performance alloys. In less than two years, we have gone from
testing a process to extract this critical material in a lab to
being able to supply approximately 20% of the global market. This
is a testament to our team’s capacity to think outside the box and
deliver on our commitments.”
Quebec Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonatan Julien
said: “I am very pleased to see this major critical and strategic
minerals project come to fruition in Quebec. It will help
strengthen the security of our supply and add value to our
industrial waste from the mining sector. It is also consistent with
the government's vision of creating wealth in a greener economy. I
wish Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium and the team at this new plant
every success!”
This project is part of a series of innovations supported by Rio
Tinto’s Critical Minerals and Technology Centre in the field of
critical minerals and materials, including the recent launch of a
water atomized steel powder for 3-D printing applications.
With its world-class aluminium business, Rio Tinto is also well
positioned to produce aluminium-scandium alloys to meet customer’s
needs. In March, the company announced an agreement to provide a
first batch of high-performance aluminium-scandium alloy from its
North American operations to Amaero, a leader in metal additive
manufacturing.
To learn more, visit www.elementnorth21.ca
Notes to editors
RTFT operates an open cast ilmenite mine at Lac Tio near
Havre-Saint-Pierre, on Quebec’s North Shore. The ore is used to
produce high-quality titanium dioxide feedstock, pig iron, steel
and metal at RTFT’s metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec.
Together, the sites employ over 1,600 people.
RTFT has operated in Quebec for 70 years and pioneered the
process of removing iron from ilmenite. In the last decade, RTFT
has focused on developing, marketing and fine-tuning the UGS
process, which produces slag with a very high titanium dioxide
content sold to pigment producers.
Founded in 1967, RTFT’s Critical Minerals and Technology Centre
conducts research on process improvement and develops new products.
The Centre features state-of-the-art equipment and highly
specialised instruments, such as inductively coupled plasma
spectrometers, X-ray diffractometers, atomic absorption units,
image analysers, scanning electron microscopes and powder
metallurgy testing laboratory.
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