Scandium. Image from Rio Tinto.
The US Defense Logistics Agency is seeking to buy scandium oxide worth up to $40 million over the next five years from a unit of mining giant Rio Tinto to secure supplies of the critical material for addition to the national stockpile.
Scandium is one of the rare earth elements, whose importance to the Western defence and technology sectors has been in the spotlight since China, the main producer, imposed export controls.
“Scandium, until recently, was primarily sourced from China. In late 2024, China placed export controls on scandium, which constrained the supply chain and prompted this acquisition for the National Defense Stockpile,” DLA said in a document published last week.
It intends to buy 6.4 metric tons of scandium oxide within five years.
In the first year it will be seeking almost 2 tons, equivalent to about 5% of last year’s global production of…
