Scandium speciation in a world-class lateritic deposit

Scandium (Sc) has unique properties, highly valued for many applications. Future supply is expected to rely on unusually high-grade (up to 1000 ppm) lateritic Sc ores discovered in Eastern Australia. To understand the origin of such exceptional concentrations, we investigated Sc speciation in one of these deposits. The major factors are unusually high concentrations in the parent rock together with lateritic weathering over long time scales in a...