Scandium Canada completes pilot test for Crater Lake scandium project, Quebec
Scandium Canada Ltd. [TSXV: SGD] has completed a campaign for the optimization of its mineral processing and hydrometallurgical flow sheet for scandium and rare earth recovery from the Crater Lake project at SGS Canada Inc. in Lakefield, Ontario. The results of these tests will be used to prepare a prefeasibility study for the Crater Lake project located in northeastern Quebec.
The current process leads to a 99.5% purity for the scandium oxide precipitate, which is the primary commercial product from the Crater Lake project, and to a 99.2% purity for the rare earth oxides, which are the secondary output from the Crater Lake project.
This is the first instance of achieving reportable purity levels of the oxides from the company’s flow sheet. The purity of scandium oxide is well within acceptable limits for its use in aluminum-scandium alloys, which Scandium Canada targets as the main end use of scandium oxide.
Dr. Peter Kondos, PhD, FAusIMM, Scandium Canada’s technical adviser, mentioned, “The hydrometallurgical optimization has performed exceptionally well, with a high scandium recovery of 93.3%, bringing the overall scandium recovery from ore to final product to 77.3%, which is a remarkable performance in this field.”
This optimization campaign used a 500-kilogram ore sample from a 15-ton bulk sample extracted from Crater Lake. The data reported previously about mineral processing are now integrated into the overall flow sheet. The company’s results confirm a significant reduction in concentrate to be transported by trucks and processed at its hydrometallurgical site, reducing capital and operating costs. The current flow sheet leads to the production of 91 tonnes per year of scandium oxide versus 87 tonnes per year (PEA results), while transporting and processing 27,000 fewer tonnes of concentrate.
Scandium Canada’s CEO, Guy Bourassa, said: “I am excited that we improved results of our metallurgical processes. This data will serve as the basis for the prefeasibility study required for advancing the development of the TG zone of the Crater Lake project. The PFS will determine the impact on the operating and capital costs associated with our optimized flow sheets. We already determined that, compared to our 2022 PEA, we are reducing by about 27,000 tonnes per year the concentrate to be transported from the mine and processed in the hydrometallurgical plant, resulting in an important operating cost reduction, while increasing scandium oxide output.”
The current work aimed at improving the flow sheet reported in the company’s 2022 preliminary economic assessment. Its focus was to confirm bench-scale test results and improve the recovery of the payable metals (scandium and rare earths) while reducing capital and operating costs.
This work was supported and made possible by a $500,000 grant from Le Consortium de recherche et d’innovation en transformation metallique, which is one of the nine industrial research sector groups in Quebec. CRITM is funded by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests of Quebec. It is a network dedicated to industrial research, and offers companies strategic support and financial assistance to carry out their research projects.
Scandium Canada is a public company whose goal is to bring the world’s leading primary source of scandium into production, enabling the development and commercialization of aluminum-scandium alloys.