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“This obscure metal is going to go ballistic in the next few years because of a game-changing development in Australia,” said Kaiser at the January Vancouver Resource Investment Conference.
John Kaiser of Kaiser Research spoke extensively at Cambridge House International’s Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC), held from January 18 to 19. Among the diverse topics he covered were the troubles plaguing the junior mining space and the juniors he believes have a chance at success.
It was while covering the second topic that Kaiser touched on scandium, an unusual metal that he has very high hopes for. “Scandium’s been a big story for me,” he began. “Scandium’s a metal people are very political about, [but] it is a metal … that has enormous application potential.”
The metal’s primary applications are in solid oxide fuel cells and scandium-aluminum alloys, but it can also be used in ceramics, electronics, lighting and phosphorous and displays.
That might sound promising, but as anyone who’s dipped a toe into the space realizes, commercially viable deposits of scandium are rare — there has thus been little production of the metal, and as a result little adoption of it in commercial applications. Case in point: the applications mentioned above are more emerging uses than things scandium is being used for right now.
It’s Kaiser’s opinion, however, that the situation is about to change. “Hundreds of applications [have been] filed, many of them related to alloys with aluminum,” he said. “This obscure metal is going to go ballistic in the next few years because of a game-changing development in Australia.”
He was of course referring to Scandium International Mining‘s (TSX:SCY) Nyngan scandium project, which is located in New South Wales, about 500 kilometers northwest of Sydney. According to Kaiser, it’s the most advanced project in the space, with a feasibility study currently in the works and a preliminary economic assessment recently completed. Most recently, the company released final assay results from drilling at Nyngan; they “continue to confirm the head grade assumptions integral to the recently released PEA on the Nyngan project,” as per CEO George Putnam.
Kaiser also mentioned Clean TeQ Holdings (ASX:CLQ), which holds the Syerston scandium project, also located in Australia. Mining magnate Robert Friedland is its owner, and Kaiser believes he is eventually “going to take ownership of scandium.”
Whether the scandium revolution is indeed coming remains to be seen. However, Kaiser’s certainty is certainly compelling, and investors will no doubt want to keep an eye on the space, and Scandium International in particular, moving forward.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Scandium International is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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