Mount Ridley Mines Ltd. has received federal backing to advance downstream processing pathways for its Western Australian scandium resource under the CSIRO Kick-Start program.
The company will partner with Australia’s national science agency on a collaborative research project titled “Scandium Alloys for Additive Manufacturing: Stage 1”.
The project has a total budget of AU$104,000, with the CSIRO contributing a AU$50,000 grant under its small-business innovation framework and Mount Ridley co-funding the remainder.
The initial phase will be conducted by specialist researchers at the CSIRO’s Lab22 additive manufacturing research facility.
The team will analyse the global patent landscape, assess emerging extraction technologies, and map potential supply chains to pinpoint high-value application areas for scandium-enhanced alloys across the aerospace, defence, and robotics sectors.
The resulting data and technical reports will remain the exclusive intellectual property of Mount Ridley, providing a blueprint to launch a subsequent Stage 2 alloy development program.
Mount Ridley’s Grass Patch Complex in Western Australia hosts a JORC-compliant inferred mineral resource of 367.98 million tonnes at 57.2 parts per million scandium, containing an estimated 18,555 tonnes of scandium metal. The inventory ranks the deposit as one of the largest standalone scandium resources globally.
Furthermore, the scandium mineralisation is uniquely co-located within the exact same regolith profile as Mount Ridley’s existing heavy rare earth and gallium assets, paving the way for lucrative extraction and processing synergies.
Mount Ridley CEO Allister Caird said the partnership aims to position the company at the forefront of advanced manufacturing supply chains where global supply remains heavily constrained.
“We have a strong belief that scandium will play a major role in rapidly scaling industries such as aerospace, robotics and defence for which no suitable substitute exists,” Caird said.
“Our scandium resource is one of the largest in the world and we intend to do more with it than put it in a resource estimate.”
The miner has already commenced an extensive re-assay program on historical drill samples to evaluate the potential for immediate resource growth.
