Rare earth: One of the world's largest scandium deposits found in Queensland

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201110/s3335822.htm

By Karen Hunt

Monday, 10/10/2011

A north Queensland mining company has discovered one of the world's largest deposits of the rare earth, scandium.

Scandium is used to make solid oxide fuel cells, which are used generating electricity from natural gas and renewable fuels..

This discovery has been made at a former nickel mine at Greenvale, just out of Townsville.

With scadnium selling currently selling for $5,000 a kilo, owner Metallica Metals says it will double the size of a planned cobalt and nickel mine at the site.

Metallica managing director Andrew Gillies says the deposit's quality and purity are outstanding, and very unusual.

"Scandium is found probably in most rocks, typically perhaps five to 15 parts per million; we've got sometimes a thousand times that," he said.

"We would think that we've got something unique. There's only three resources in the world and we've got two of them."