Some rare metals enterprises overseas have successfully separated element scandium from the enrichment extract liquor, the raw materials is from the project of Ucore Rare Metals that located in the mountains of Alaska Bocandotsen Mountains.

 

Separation of the rare earth elements is very difficult, to find scandium from mixed deposits is not easy in fact. The company adopted the separation process of the working methods laboratory used before. More than 99% of scandium has been separated from other rare earth elements. There is little scandium contained in the enrichment extract liquor substantially. To separate scandium quickly and efficiently and make it into available metal do not require to separate it from the throughout rare earth elements matrix. The differences of Separation of Scandium in this company and other plants is to reduce selective techniques, such as solvent extraction and ion exchange. The purpose of separating scandium is to completely remove scandium from the enrichment extract liquor, the whole process doesn’t have to remove any other rare earth elements. The successful completion of this plan has retained the value of the enrichment extract liquor and helped to be separated from the subsequent circuit.

 

Scandium is present in most of the deposits of rare earth and uranium compounds, but it is extracted from these ores in only a few mines worldwide. Because of the low availability and the difficulties in the preparation of metallic scandium, which was first done in 1937, applications for scandium were not developed until the 1970s. The positive effects of scandium on aluminium alloys were discovered in the 1970s, and its use in such alloys remains its only major application. The global trade of scandium oxide is about 10 tonnes per year. The addition of scandium to aluminium limits the grain growth in the heat zone of welded aluminium components. This has two beneficial effects: the precipitated Al3Sc forms smaller crystals than in other aluminium alloys, and the volume of precipitate-free zones at the grain boundaries of age-hardening aluminium alloys is reduced. Both of these effects increase the usefulness of the alloy.

 

The main application of scandium by weight is in aluminium-scandium alloys for minor aerospace industry components. These alloys contain between 0.1% and 0.5% of scandium. They were used in the Russian military aircraft, specifically the MiG-21 and MiG-29. Some items of sports equipment, which rely on high performance materials, have been made with scandium-aluminium alloys, including baseball bats and bicycle frames and components. Lacrosse sticks are also made with scandium. The American firearm manufacturing company, Smith & Wesson, produces revolvers with frames of scandium alloy and cylinders of titanium or carbon steel.