Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
My apologies to all.
Just trying to point out, in my opinion, that Sc use seems to be at a Chicken or Egg point. Knowledge of the advantages of Sc has been known for quite a while but supply has held back extensive use. Higher volume supply from SCY would allow for much more wide spread application.
He posted the same thing on Niocorps board. Just keep posting what you post TML, your insight and analysis on SCY and scandium is very valuable to this board when SCY takes off.
I am aware - and I never said it was new, nor did I imply so. I don't understand where the context for your message came from. I have mentioned the Russians, MIGS, and alloy information numerous times here. (That is the whole point of this board, discussion of SCY and scandium's potential). I was merely linking to Airbus' work because it was mentioned before and it demonstrates the airline industry is hungry for scandium and has been for years, regardless of supply.
There is 100 posts on this board and you might want to keep the most basic and obvious information that has been repeated ad nauseam to yourself, or at least try and present it in a slightly less insulting and more relevant manner.
I must admit it does annoy me that you responded to my post so matter-of-factly with the same info I've presented here a dozen times. The age of MIGS and the percentage of the alloy have nothing to do with eastern states starting scandium mines.
The use of Sc in Al alloys is not new (the Mig 21 & 29 have been around for quite a while) and by weight it is less than 1% of the alloy.
per Wikipedia:
Pretty interesting and yet inevitable in my opinion. The amounts they are talking about are small and the dates (early 2016) are unlikely to be hit, although mining development times are much faster in many Eastern Bloc countries and the development times will be shortened if they are existing mines or recovering waste and tailings.
If anyone wants to rush and produce a tiny tickle of scandium they are welcome to, but I haven't seen any source that compares with SCY for where they are in the development cycle. SCY has volume, grade, and the metallurgy and margin necessary to scale into a producer of hundreds of low cost tonnes.
One of the comments from that article caught my eye:
"Tracy Weslosky on March 17, 2015 at 10:55 AM said:
There is quite the buzz on $NB and $NIOBF having scandium — in North America. I have the CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. (TSX: SCY) in here today for an interview on their patents pertaining to downstream product design for scandium recovery, and their focus is on the Nyngan Scandium Project in NSW, Australia.
- See more at: http://investorintel.com/rare-earth-intel/former-soviet-states-plan-to-take-lead-in-global-scandium-market/#sthash.vsmFh9tI.dpuf"
I looked for it but didn't see it posted. This is what SCY shareholders should see and I'd really like to hear what Mr Putnam has to say about these patents.
I am also about 100 pages into NIO's report and getting into the scandium stuff. I'll report back when I am done but so far it appears that my initial impressions were off. The deposit and geology is very different from SCY's which may mean their patents do not apply, or would be more difficult to argue that they do or should. I am still not 100% clear on this and a lot of it will have to do with how similar the extraction tech is between the two companies. After reading most of it though I already feel much more confident that NIO will not be a serious competitor to SCY because they don't actually have a scandium mine, they have a niobium and titanium mine with a little bit of semi-random scandium present.
another article:
http://investorintel.com/rare-earth-intel/chicken-egg-problem-energy-metals-scandium-case-study/
Airbus SC
http://www.technology-licensing.com/etl/int/en/What-we-offer/Technologies-for-licensing/Metallics-and-related-manufacturing-technologies/Scalmalloy.html
I brought that question up on the nio board and was met with the usual "it's all good in the hood" stuff. I got this answer from one guy tho. "They are looking at the best ways to extract scandium so I dont think we are jumping the gun on that. They removed HCl from the process which in turn gave higher scandium recovery rates as specified in the updated resource report.
"The potential Scandium recovery is increased from 40% to 50% in the base flowsheet to 70% to 90% in the SAAB flowsheet, as Sc values more readily dissolve in the SAAB leaching step." see page 97 of the NI 43-101 Technical Report, Updated Mineral Resource Estimate – Elk Creek Niobium Project, by SRK."
I'm not very good with the technical stuff so if could have a look at the report on sader. You might be able to shed some light on what they have there.
I think scandium will not be a major part of that mine. I think they will focus more on the niobium.
Any help with understanding what they have here would be a huge help.
Thanks
The more I read about Nio's scandium process the more it appears to heavily borrowed from SCY's pioneering work. Maybe they just managed to guess their way through and do four years worth of work in a couple months, but that is unlikely would be hard for them to prove I think - especially when compared to SCY's work with numerous dead ends and gradual improvement over many years as they did the science to unlock the scandium from the ore. Nio being at 70-90% recovery out of the gate has me rolling my eyes.
Hopefully we can nab some licensing cash off of them eventually.
I'd say the exchange rates are pretty minor, they will have an effect, but not for years, and even then the rate at that moment in time when they actually have those costs (2017-2018+) is more relevant than whatever it is now. Currently I think it is in our favour.
I would go into more detail about this but it is a complicated topic and the answer isn't a simple yes or no, because there are times when mines benefit from both a weak and a strong currency. For example SCY is a Canadian listed miner that seems to have a Vancouver presence but has also borrowed and has its costs based in US, Aussie, and probably even Canadian dollars while they operate primarily in Australia. The HQ is in... Nevada I think yet much of the support and legal staff is in Canada and the tech staff is in Australia. We've been printing like madmen here in Canada and said we're keeping interest rates free so our dollar has tanked as well, but gold, silver, and other commodities then went up to match this devaluation, so mining costs went up with metal prices. I think their margins actually increased because of oil's decline but if that factor was removed the currency gyrations add up to almost no effect IMO. Most of our expenses are probably in CAD at the moment - I actually don't remember it has been almost a year since I read through the filings, but the answer is there if you want it (ie the breakdown of all of this.)
You can use a checklist if it helps you, but a mental checklist will serve you much better, since if you walk PDAC with a checklist some promoter will see you're green and take advantage of you. The answers themselves are often less important than the way they answer you.
http://www.inflationproofinvestor.com/support-files/the_eight_ps_of_resource_stock_evaluation.pdf
I would say questions like "Is this property wildly economic?" and "Does management have the integrity, the balls, and the skill necessary to get it done?"
The criteria for success is pretty straight forward. Either they develop into a profitable scandium mine or they don't.
The risk factors for this stock are the same as any other juniors with some extra risk for pioneering scandium - we aren't developing something with a known, quantifiable value and established market. There is environmental, permitting, and political risk. There is also geological and metallurgical risk (mostly mitigated) and risk factors associated with the need to raise significant capital in a bear market, excessive dilution, and there is also a high risk SCY's tech is stolen and copied in china and elsewhere for a small fraction of the cost. Mines also frequently take decades to develop so by that time-frame it might be another 6 years and it would still be within a completely normal time-frame of development. Time is one of our biggest advantages and adversaries.
Much like the uses for scandium the risk factors for its first mine are abundant and would take pages to fill. Go into this - and other mining speculations with your eyes open and be prepared to lose all of your money. You are in one of the riskiest sectors in the world, where risk and reward are at their highest. It would serve you well to be cognizant of this fact.
Follow up -I tried another account - TDAmeritrade and could not do an online purchase of SCY but it did allow me to purchase SCYYF and I am now a shareholder in a minor way - in at 0.095 and the advantage for me - a US shareholder - is I can do it at regular brokerage rates - no extra fee for broker assisted. I'll watch the spread between the two symbols and realize for now not much trading for the OTC symbol.
On TDAmeritrade SCYYF shows "Gray Market" but it allowed me to do the BUY. Scottrade would not allow due "no bid/ask".
The SCY property may be a bit harder and more expensive to visit versus the mine I visited a week ago today in Sonora MX
Dick in Kansas City MO - but normally I'll sign rjw/mkc
Hello everybody!
I'm new to the field of investing in mine stocks and as I was looking around I found this stock.
Currently I'm doing some DD and I'm not invested yet. The project looks very promising to me but I haven't really found out what the essential criterias for this succes are. I often read that people have a checklist when they are doing their DD. Do you see any obstacles on your checklist which need to be taken or which may lead to problems in the future? Or do we have to wait for further information comming with the DFS.
I have read that the numbers that appear in the PEA are based on the assumption that the exchange rate of AUD to USD is around US$0.90. Currently this exchange rate is at ~US$0.766 so approximately 14% below the assumption.
I'm trying to figure out in how far this exchange rate is relavant. I assume that the building of the mine, the operational costs and some of the taxes are payed in AUD. Is it correct to say that the profit will be made in USD and therefore a weaker AUD is rather good because the operational costs are lower?
TYIA for any help! I'm looking forward to get started :)
Thanks for the correction. Rivets or no rivets the aircraft industry could certainly benefit from scandium alloy components. Please feel free to comment on this, since you have experience in the field. Even if it is only used in the fuselage and wing paneling it seems like something the industry would desire. Who wouldn't want stronger, lighter planes?
Here's some more stuff I found:
"At present, aluminium is used in the aviation industry everywhere in the world. From two thirds to three quarters of a passenger plane’s dry weight, and from one twentieth to half of a rocket’s dry weight accounts for the share of aluminium in airborne craft. The casing of the first Soviet satellite was made of aluminium alloys. The body casing of American ‘Avantgarde’ and ‘Titan’ rockets used for launching the first American rockets into the orbit, and later on – spaceships, was also made of aluminium alloys. They are used for manufacturing various components of spaceship equipment: brackets, fixtures, chassis, covers and casing for many tools and devices."
http://www.aluminiumleader.com/en/around/transport/aircraft
How much aluminum is in a Boeing 747 airplane?
A 747-400 consists of 147,000 pounds (66,150 kg) of high-strength aluminum.
So at .1% alloy at $1k/kg that is an extra ~60k extra expense or about 1/3 the value of the aluminum. At 2k/kg the scandium would cost slightly less than the aluminum. Uh oh, that seems like a high proportion except when you consider that a 747 is worth almost $400 million new so suddenly a couple hundred thousand in raw materials seems trivial given the value add and even just the PR value of doing something like this will be enormous, economic benefits notwithstanding.
I build aircraft. Rivets are Hi-lights will in my opinion be for ever used for many reasons. You have to remember thet planes expand and contract in flight. Gaps between skins need to be maintained so the aircraft can breath. Also repairs would be very difficult if it was welded. You would have to see an aircraft striped down to fully understand why welding will never be the norm. Other then that your post are very informative thanks
This post is about winglets. A decade ago I learned about winglets and their importance. This may seem completely unrelated to SCY but please bear with me.
Okay so first off, what the heck is a winglet(Aside from it being incredibly fun to say)?
Basically it is a where the end of a plane's wing is modified from a traditional flat wing to one with a curved, sort of check mark end, changing the craft's aerodynamics and thereby increasing overall fuel efficiency.
This is a winglet:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/Images/winglets.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_device
I learned about winglets from West Jet, a Canadian company that was among the first to outfit their fleet with them (along with TVs for everyone).
Now why is this important? Because West Jet executives didn't care at all how stylish they are or whatever - all they cared about was the simple math - will installing these save us money? The answer was yes and so they outfitted the entire fleet and increased their flight distance for the same tank of gas by about 3-5%. They did this quickly, since it made so much sense and the payback was quick. Multiply those savings by millions of liters of jet fuel and many years and they have saved themselves a fortune. Nowadays winglets are common on passenger planes because they make economic sense.
Scandium will do something similar in my estimation - how much remains to be seen but I think there is some huge potential for the airline industry to save a huge amount of money. Regardless of how much the scandium costs, as long as the savings are greater it will be pursued. Amortize those savings over the lifetime of the jet and I bet a tiny, upfront bump will have little effect on the unit price (like the gold and silver in an iphone).
I forget where I heard this idea from so, credit to whoever it was, but they pointed out that Sc allows aluminum to be welded with much greater plasticity and strength. Great, again, what does it mean? Planes that are significantly lighter and perfectly smooth, containing not even a single rivet. Airplanes will be a single, perfectly aerodynamic piece. This may unlock an entire new area of the aviation sector.
Scandium is a much more significant technological development than a winglet! Imagine if they could save an additional 10-20% on top of the winglet? Multiplied my millions of flights - we'll save enough gas to build even more spaceships - which we'll build out of scandium.
Scandium roundup.
Excellent video, Kaiser at PDAC, discussing SCY and scandium's enormous latent demand:
I'll work a bit more on it tomorrow and try another account also. I believe i can do broker-assisted on the parent SCY - just invest in larger quantity less often to lessen the impact of the extra fees for broker-assisted.
Pleasant little village here - nobody's called me rude names yet - I'm a refugee from the MXSG wars going on elsewhere. And I just pointed some of the reasonable folks from that community this direction so maybe you'll see another name or two show up.
Thanks for the tips and yeah, could get excited - your own rubs off.
rjw/mkc
Also can't you just set up a limit order with a good to date of a say a week and wait? Or does it lock you out since there isn't a proper quote? A lot of brokerage UIs leave much to be desired...
I am sure you'll figure it out.
SCY is worth owning and is a good complement to mex. And although it currently trades like a gold junior it sure as hell isn't one.
Purchasing SCY or SCYYF ? Gentlemen I found my way here via TM's MXSG connection and have read the background info, the short message base and severel internet articles.
When I tried to set up a purchase of SCYYF via Scottrade I got a "no can do" due to no bid/ask since SCYYF is still a gray sheet stock and doesn't trade daily.
I'm sure there's a workaround - what is it? Haven't called to see if it can be done via a broker-assisted transaction yet - that sometimes works when issues can't be traded online.
Thanks
rjw/mkc
I do think there is a wealth of information in it tho. I googled scandium news and this was the top of the page and was put online 12h ago at the time
No I posted it in hopes someone would pay the $2600 to read it, or know how to get their hands on it.
Hmm I want to read that but I think have a lot of that research already done and I don't really want to pay $2600 for what appears to be a single research paper. Even if it was the most thorough paper ever and gave me access to the entire site I would still probably not pay $2600.
Always good to see more interest though. Did you read the full report?
I don't remember the date of that forecast but it was by 2020 or 2025 I think. Given the rate of technological progress and likely discovery of more uses and the potential for current use I would say it is basically impossible to predict the growth for something for something like that, even factoring in Bloom Box growth. A new element being brought to market at a reasonable cost, who ewally knows what will happen? The demand could easily be 500 mt by 2018-19 as the first mass produced scandium goods come to market and generate buzz. The military could swoop down and become exclusive buyers and generate lucrative government and defense contracts. Or the demand could be feeble and Sc is deemed as too expensive. Do your DD and decide.
Year one of mining (2017-2018 most likely, but impossible to say - the mining world is slow) SCY will produce 36 metric tonnes of Sc oxide powder. Now what that will sell for I will leave up to the reader and market. Maybe it will sell for a premium, or a discounted off-take agreement, I could see strong arguments for both sides. I believe people have paid up to $200,000 for very small amounts (1 lb) of the stuff.
I would guess in 2018 maybe there is 50 mt produced, a trickle from various small producers and the majority from SCY. 36 mt is maybe 30 M profit for them on the low end, ten times earnings is 300 M with no value assigned to the deposit. That is just a guess though and my opinion.
SCY is perfectly scalable and if there are profits they will expand and being first to market they can probably acquire market share, since there isn't really one until someone makes supply. Chicken before the egg, or something like that. If there is demand for 500 mt in 2020 SCY could probably scale up and supply most of it, but by that time it will depend what their competitors are up to and the state of the market.
And sorry one last question, they are forecasting down the road 450T to be used globally down the road. Have they stated how much of that 450T they plan on supplying?
I think SCY is the best scandium junior because they are the oldest and most professionally managed. In mining, since making any kind of mine often takes 5-10 years+, being the oldest and having spend the time to do "RD" via drilling and studies is a huge advantage. They will almost assuredly be the world's first primary scandium mine. They are not the world's first scandium mine, that title likely belongs to some unpronounceable Russian uranium mine that operated in the 60s.
I also really like SCY's deposit, the intercept lengths are awesome and the grades are very good, combining for some huge tonnage, and hopefully world supply.
Some of these other companies like Friedland's Clean Teq or Nio might beat SCY to producing a small amount of scandium but they won't be the first to produce in size and from a scandium dominated deposit. Clean Teq's scandium property is about 2 years or more behind SCY in my estimate and I am skeptical of nio's ability to produce scandium because it seems like they jumped on the bandwagon and I doubt they have done the science to unlock the scandium from the ore in the same way the SCY has. I am meaning to do more research on their new release and see how they mean to process it. Even in gold mining heap leaching is well understood and yet every individual mine has to do the studies to match their crushing equipment etc to their deposit. I doubt anyone is close to matching SCY in this regard.
It might actually be for the best that CT or NIO produces a trickle of scandium first, proves the market and encourages an appetite just as SCY will come online with its mine. All of the ~30 ish + random companies that claim the be in the scandium business only a small number are serious and none of them are even close to where SCY is. If it were a race SCY would be meters away from the finish while the others are just lining up at the starting line.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I'm very interested in scandium and have been looking around at scy, niocorp, and clean teq. Clean teq is in talks with Airbus, or at least working together to see if they can supply them with enough scandium. Niocorp seems to have a good sized amount and the right CEO to get it to market, in your opinion what makes SCY stand out above the rest.
Thanks again for your very detailed and informed answers.
My definition of "next little while" is probably different than yours. Over the course of 2015 I expect the scandium story to become more well known and that shares in the most advanced projects will appreciate regardless of news-flow.
This year I would expect a few more drill updates and some news on mining licenses and maybe some potential claim acquisitions. They also said they are doing EIS work so there will probably be some environmental permitting and other final paperwork. All of this will lead up to a bankable feasibility study and and production decision by year end. It is a no-brainer IMO so then there will be some publicizing, then financing and capital raising with the goal to be mining in 2017. Somewhere in there they probably get their potentially lucrative patents granted. I would speculate that the patent process would take six months to a year.
Probably lots more on the way too, those are just some guesses. The patents were a surprise and may end up being incredibly valuable, but I haven't seen the patents nor do I have the expertise to evaluate them.
My general sense is that SCY will become progressively more expensive as its story becomes more well known since there is plenty of value here.
Anyway, take care.
http://www.scandiummining.com/i/pdf/Investor-Review-December-2014.pdf
Do we have any news to be expected in the next little while?
The deposit is still being drilled out but what they have so far is most of the metallurgy cracked, patents filed, and a 43-101 with 12M MT of near surface 261 ppm scandium. The scandium price is tricky since the market is miniscule. Scandium's ultimate success will hinge on miners like SCY reducing the price via supply, but first to market will capture large profits. Depending on which prices you use you can get a gross value of the discovered minerals (without any processing etc) of somewhere between 3 and a hundred billion dollars for this 20 million dollar company. A more fair and reasonable price to start off with is somewhere between 10-50% of the most commonly quoted price ($2k/kilo) so I tend to use $1k/kilo or less which corresponds to $1/pmm to keep things simple. Using half of the lowest quoted price gives a gross value of 3.2 billion dollars and they have likely increased this to around 5 billion dollars with the great drilling results that have been posted and are ongoing.
Given its position I think SCY should be worth 5-10% of its gross value, or 160-320 million dollars. To get to even 5% is an 8 bagger. SCY should be trading at 50 cents, not 10 cents IMO.
There aren't many posts on the board, I encourage you to read them.
Take care.
How much scandium/ value are we talking on this mine? Or do we know
SCY hits an intraday high of 14 cents, up on huge volume of 1.3 million shares.
C'mon, can we do one more cent this week? Everyone knows what's after 15? The big quarter!
Up, up and away - SCYWARD!
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled silence punctuated by moments of me talking to myself.
Another strong day for SCY! It has held all of its recent gains and continues to move up nicely.
My LG sense is tingling - fifteen cents is coming this week or shortly thereafter. I'll probably add just a little bit more to round off the horde to nice, big, round number and then let I'll 'er ride.
Here's another one that appears to be in the midst of a pump and dump.
https://www.google.com/finance?q=CVE%3ACRU.H&ei=vJHzVLGiGanJiQLG44C4Bw
Cameo Resources CRU
"In Quebec, initial exploration work will consist of geophysical surveying to identify the potential host rocks of the government reported Scandium geochem results. The Company is following up on the positive potential of the uses of scandium in the aluminium alloy and solid fuel cell industries. This potential has been limited by supply concerns and Cameo management has identified possible areas where the rare earth metal could be located.
The new properties in Quebec have government reported values of scandium in excess of 600 ppm which is above currently identified resource grades. This initial geophysics surveying will assist field crews in focusing their geological evaluation once the area is clear of winter."
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/02/19/cameo-commences-exploration-work#UhMYQgPX69R8EsrF.99
2 million dollar market cap, lots of pump, very little substance at this juncture. Yet, it still may be prudent to acquire a basket of scandium juniors (heavily weighted scy) to play the inevitable industry pump when it goes beyond a specific company. Maybe SCY goes to a dollar meanwhile the crappy low market cap no-nothing companies can still go from 5 cents to 50 cents on nothing but hype. I'd sell them into the pump and hold SCY and the better prospects long term.
Niocorp should release PEA in 2-3 weeks from now.
Then we will have more clear picture about their Sc ambitions.
Good luck to all longs!
Good catch! I follow NIO pretty closely and I missed that.
Niobium is a good comparison metal to scandium in many respects in that it alloys with a common material (steel vs aluminum) for benefits like strength increases. Niobium was once a prohibitively expensive pipe dream, and now it is in nearly every car frame, pipeline, spaceship etc.
NIO, as an example, never appeared to care about scandium until recently and it is a good fit. if it is already present in their deposit? Go for it.
This is really good news. I've watched SCY go from being the only one in the sector to what now seems like dozens of competitors, with a few big names.
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/02/25/niocorp-updates-elk-creek-niobium-mineral-resource-to-include-titanium-and
"Sc ha[s] been added to the Mineral Resource Statement. Both of these metals can be recovered with simple additions to the existing process flowsheet, and would provide additional revenue streams that would compliment the planned production of ferroniobium."
I am not sure it is that simple and easy as they make it sound. It has taken SCY's experts a long time to crack the optimal metallurgy and some of these processes will soon be patent protected. I'd say at this point NIO is more sizzle than substance in the scandium space. SCY is the clear winner but there will be many on their heels as they try and reap the cream pricing for scandium. The first significant production, first to market, will sell for a huge amount, way more than whatever long term average is eventually established. The world needs lots of scandium and will need massive supply from many mines to reduce its cost and achieve some of its commercial potential.
I can see the big scandium pump of 2016-2017 shaping up nicely. Where once there was one company there will soon be hundreds.
Thanks for the reply, Jovko. it makes me feel like slightly less of a crazy person.
I more company to add to CSY's competitor list: Niocorp
I think this was mentioned before but Robert Friedland is in the scandium game. Clean Teq (CLQ) can now be added to SCY's competitor list, although they are way behind SCY in my estimation. Friedland is a big name and is representative of the increasing interest scandium is receiving. But we are already so far ahead of everyone else that we will win this game. We will the be the world's first primary scandium mine!
http://ceo.ca/category/people/robert-friedland/
Interesting article
http://www.miningfeeds.com/2014/12/10/friedland-follows-kaiser-into-scandium-with-clean-teq-holdings-clqasx/
and showing some of their recent hits:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/press/en/78918/Clean_TeQ_Holdings_Limited_%28ASX:CLQ%29_Confirms_High_Scandium_Grades_at_Syerston.html
The grades are good but SCY has them firmly beat in length( by a factor of more than ten in many cases), therefore overall tonnage, metallurgy etc.
The more interest and competitors the better. I say bring it on and break the obscurity! It is inevitable that one day scandium will be ubiquitous if we can make it affordable by creating supply. SCY has a decent chance of changing the world and making handsome profits in the process. What isn`t to like?
Also SCY finishes Feb up strongly at 12 cents up nearly 50% for the month. 15 cents is coming either shortly or eventually but it is coming since SCY is worth around 50 cents per share at the moment. One day SCY will fly and truly taste the SkY. (All IMO)
More Kaiser; SCY makes his top 10 list.
http://resourceinvestingnews.com/81682-john-kaiser-amarc-tsodilo-inzinc-ivn-peregrine-diamonds-scandium-midas-gold-temex.html
Kaiser sees scandium as a “big story” with enormous potential. “This obscure metal is going to go ballistic in the next few years because of a game-changing development in Australia,” he said.
Scandium International Mining (TSX:SCY) (formerly EMC Metals) — ” [is]… the most advanced [in the scandium space]. They’re working on a feasibility study now.”
I have also noticed that the number of search results for scandium and the number of videos and general interest appears to be growing exponentially from basically zero to the point now where almost every day now a new scandium video is uploaded to youtube and there is more activity across the web (although the google trends are spotty). Slow and steady, a few more years, and I think there will be more than just JK and TM that care about blue SCY dreams.
Take care.
I am just going to keep talking to myself. SCY closes at .11 up 16% on 883,431.00 shares well above its average of 138,102 with an intraday high of .115. The chart appears to have broken out and I am looking for 15 cents in the short term.
The trading action is heating up and is supported by today's fresh PR. SCY should have a full news pipeline for the year so I think SCY should continue to be a fun stock to own in 2015 although I do think that marketing SCY's unique story will have more of an effect on pps than the news of gradually developing into a mine. It is still quite perplexing to me how little interest there is given how amazing and potentially profitable the scandium story is. I've looked at this company hard and have yet to find a major flaw yet alone a fatal one. Almost all juniors seem to have warts but SCY is gorgeous, she's like a shunned supermodel kept in a dark room.
The only problem is that they still require capital to build their mine. Yet as they develop and hopefully increase market place awareness this stock is going to go to 50 cents to a buck and from that point raising 50-80 M on good terms should be a cake walk given their executives and the profitability of their project.
SCY applies for patents to protect their scandium recovery process.
Reno, Nevada (FSCwire) - Scandium International Mining Corp. (the “Company” or “Scandium International” or “SCY”) (TSX: SCY) announces today that it has completed the filing of five patent applications with the US Patent Office that correspond to novel flowsheet designs for the recovery of scandium from laterite resource material. All five of these patents are directly applicable to our Nyngan Scandium Project in NSW, Australia, although one of the five patents pertains to downstream product design.
The five patent applications are titled as follows;
Systems and methodologies for recovering scandium values from mixed ion solutions,
Systems and methodologies for direct acid leaching of scandium bearing laterite ores,
Solvent extraction of scandium from leach solutions,
Systems and processes for recovering scandium values from laterite ores, and
Scandium-containing master alloys and method for making the same,
PATENT APPLICATION HIGHLIGHTS:
These patent applications cover novel, unique flowsheet designs, applicable to scandium extraction, from scandiferous laterite resources,
The patented designs are largely supported by test work done with Nyngan project resource material and known design parameters,
The patents cover HPAL system material flows, solvent extraction systems (SX), ion exchange systems (IX), atmospheric tank and heap leaching systems and techniques, and processes for directly making select master alloys containing scandium,
The designs will be part of a definitive feasibility study, scheduled for 2015, and
The master alloy patent application uniquely integrates planned flowsheet design and downstream product development, either by SCY or with future customers.
George Putnam, CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. commented:
“These patent applications represent an important step in securing ownership and rights to the technical understanding of scandium recovery that we have invested in for several years. The filings will also allow us to work openly with an independent engineering firm to develop the best feasibility study product, and to configure the most efficient process flowsheet for our Nyngan Project, while maintaining control over our unique process designs.”
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/02/17/novel-flowsheet-design-patents-filed-for-scandium-recovery#PCVp5hEOmqt3CEP3.99
Good to see they are protecting the time and money they have invested. Being the first to crack the chemistry is critical.
Also if you google "scandium price" it lists scandium for $122,000 per pound ($270 g/mt) or 270x the price I am using in my calculations. I think that price is ludicrous but I am not going to complain about the high price of a unique commodity SCY essentially controls.
Mineralprices.com has it at a more realistic but still eye popping $18000/kg for the metal and $7200/kg for the scandium oxide we can produce for around $600.
And the upward movement in the stock continues. I am hoping for an 11 cent close that kick starts SCY's 2015 run. SCY is going to at least a quarter this year (IMO).
The trading was pretty strange today. Someone or a computer algo appears to have bought 2000 shares every 2 minutes all day, followed with a large burst of volume and price increase at the end of the day. The trading has been really thin lately and today's action is about 4x the average. If you look at a month chart of the stock the action stands out as quite odd and I don't recall seeing anything similar with this stock in the past and I have watched it for quite a while.
I think the stock is definitely worth more than a thin dime and we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Today's action probably means nothing but at least serves as an example of how little money and buying pressure is necessary to rocket the stock up double digit percentages.
Anyway back to patient hibernation until the dimes turn into quarters.
Take care.
SCY hits even more high grade scandium, reports drills holes.
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/01/29/final-assay-results-of-resource-in-fill-drilling-at-nyngan-scandium-project
"Average scandium grade of 357ppm over 214 meters (200ppm cut-off),
Average scandium grade of 444ppm over 120 meters (300ppm cut-off),
Best results: 4 meters @ 795ppm, 5 meters @ 755ppm and 7 meters @ 721ppm,
Best individual 1 meter assay was 879ppm,
Lithium borate fusion (fusion) assay preparation demonstrated superior result to the traditional four acid method, as used on the resource estimate in 2010, and
These new assay results strongly support the average grade and location selected and included in the recently released PEA on the Nyngan project."
As I have pointed out before 1 ppm = approximately $1 scandium oxide so we are talking about ore worth $350-$900 per metric tonne which I imagine would cost them around $30-$50 per mt to process (just a guess, it depends a lot on how much the acid reagents cost). This appears to be one of the best pre-production mines of any type in the world.
SCY is years ahead of their rivals in using metallurgy to unlock the minerals in the ore.
"The Company notes that fusion digestion results generally deliver higher scandium assays than the four acid digestion method, traditionally used in nickel and cobalt assay work. The Company believes the fusion technique generates a truer assay result, because acid digestion of scandium within limonite hosted mineralization can be incomplete, particularly at higher grades, and flux digestion by high temperature fusion produces a more homogeneous sample for analysis. SCY intends to rely on and utilize fusion digestion techniques going forward to support our mine planning and advanced economic and development studies."
The fusion method seems to improve yields around 30-40% which is very impressive.
George Putnam, CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. commented:
“With this full program drill result in hand, we have detailed and current assay data to design our starter pit as part of a final feasibility study, to be completed in 2015. These latest assay results continue to confirm the head grade assumptions integral to the recently released PEA on the Nyngan project. Drill hole material from the program has also allowed us to conduct flow sheet test work with fresh resource taken from the planned pit area. A finalized flow sheet based on optimized parameters is planned for the end of Q2 2015.
These recent in-fill drill results also demonstrate clearly that the Nyngan resource is very comparable to other scandium resources in the NSW lateritic belt regarding scandium grade.”
Early high grade assays arrive, hits over 800 PPM.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/early-assay-results-of-resource-in-fill-drilling-at-nyngan-scandium-project---387ppm-2014-12-18
For rough reference 1g (1 ppm) of scandium is worth a dollar. So 800 ppm is $800 ore, near surface, that could be mined for somewhere between $20-30/t I would guess, making it one of the highest margin deposits in the world. The deposit is basically the equivalent of a 15-20 million ounce gold deposit at about .25 to .75 (~.5) oz of gold per ton.
And people still don't care. But they will. One day.
(All IMO)
EMC Announces Name Change To Scandium International Mining Corp.
Reno, NV / ACCESSWIRE / November 24, 2014 / EMC Metals Corp. (the "Company" or "EMC") (TSX: EMC) is pleased to announce that it has changed its corporate name to Scandium International Mining Corp. The Company will begin trading under its new TSX ticker symbol, "SCY", on Friday November 28th, and the Company's website address will change to www.ScandiumMining.com.
Our new name better reflects the Company's commitment to developing scandium projects globally, and our current focus on the 100% owned Nyngan Scandium Project in NSW, Australia.
George Putnam, CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp., commented:
"The Board believes that our new name more accurately represents the company's tight strategic focus on our scandium assets, and signals our transition away from a broader specialty metals developer concept. This name change now sharply defines us as a pure scandium play, focused on the development of the Nyngan Scandium Project, intended to be the world’s first primary scandium mine. The recently published Nyngan PEA reinforces this strategy by putting forward a project plan that is sized to enable an independent development by the Company. With a planned capital investment of less than US$80 million generating annual scandia production of approximately 36 tonnes, we have outlined an initial production platform that shows excellent potential profitability, is a right-sized development for our Company, and yet is capable of being a significant price and volume leader in the under-serviced global market for scandium."
Scandium White Paper - A well written outline of the scandium investment thesis.
http://www.emcmetals.com/i/pdf/Scandium-White-PaperEMC-Website-June-2014-.pdf
It is very well presented and included a few things that were new to me:
use in ceramics
The addition of about 20% scandium carbide to titanium carbide
results in a doubling of the hardness of the mixed Ti -
Sc carbide, to about 50 GPa, second only to diamonds in hardness.
use in electronics
Scandium is used in the preparation of the laser material Gd3Sc2Ga3O12, gadolinium scandium allium garnet(GSGG).
This garnet when doped with both Cr and Nd ions is said to be 3
1/2 times as efficient as the widely used Nd doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser. Ferrites and garnets containing scandium are used primarily in switches in computers. These magnetically
controlled switches work by undulating light passing through the garnet and microwave equipment.
I'll also have to look into both yttrium and also this Ashurst company mentioned in the paper. They seem to have failed to supply the scandium market. They also had external problems and lacked the markets that now exist today.
Maybe they sell lacrosse sticks?
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ashurst-signs-license-agreement-with-stx-and-receives-order-for-scandium-lacrosse-sticks-75377732.html
Recently this research from Mr. Kaiser was opened to the public from behind his pay wall. It very detailed and thorough and is a must read if you are interested in this developing scandium story.
An excerpt relevant to EMC is below but I recommend reading the entire thing to appreciate the full story.
"Bloom Energy appears to have become quite relaxed about its near term scandium oxide needs after stringing along potential primary scandium suppliers such as EMC Metals Corp and Metallica Minerals Inc with negotiations and, in the case of Metallica, a weak offtake agreement that denied the junior a realistic chance of providing Bloom with a sustainable, long term solution to the scandium oxide needs that accompany the success of its business plan. But anybody who understands the limited scalability of by-product supply streams, which apparently excludes quite a few people who think financial support of potential primary scandium suppliers should be avoided because there is an "abundant" supply of scandium oxide in the wings just waiting for a buyer to materialize, will understand that Bloom Energy remains exposed to the failure of its business plan thanks to its reliance on by-product scandium oxide supply, or, in the Chinese case, waste stream by-product recovery. Australian deposits like Platina's Owendale and EMC's Nyngan, however, represent a potential long term scalable primary supply that could easily take care of Bloom's future best case scenario needs at a stable price. Even better, these two deposits could feed a substantially larger future demand from the aluminum alloy industry, whose materialization would eliminate the vulnerability to geopolitically or extortion driven supply disruption Bloom Energy currently faces as the world's overwhelmingly largest consumer of scandium oxide. Bloom Energy's backers would sleep much better if the scandium oxide it needs were sourced directly from Australia, a nation that adheres to western principles of free markets and the rule of law.
So the obvious question is why Bloom Energy does not deal directly with Platina or EMC rather than, I suspect, work through its current scandium oxide supplier HNOSC and possibly also Honfine? In the case of EMC where a public company now has secure title to the Nyngan deposit on which substantial metallurgical work has already been done, sufficient to support an ownership vesting feasibility study, and which is now in the hands of competent ex-BHP operators who will deliver a PEA by the end of 2014 and a full-blown feasibility study by the end of 2015, the wise thing for Bloom Energy is to stand back and wait for EMC to deliver the goods. There is no reason for Bloom Energy to pursue an offtake agreement because Bloom has had sufficient dealings with EMC's George Putnam to realize it is not going to secure an agreement that is harmful to the interests of EMC's shareholders. The recent appointment to EMC's board of James Rothwell, who headed BHP's diamond division and earlier worked with Putnam to develop BHP's manganese market, further solidifies the EMC team. EMC also benefits from the involvement of another ex-BHP luminary, Willem Duyvestyn, a process engineer who is also the largest shareholder in EMC. Furthermore, EMC has also attracted as a potential 20% Nyngan backer (assuming EMC raises another $1.2 million) a party which will have the option to become a major shareholder a year from now, and which has the capacity to facilitate EMC's evolution into the world's dominant scandium oxide supplier. EMC is Bloom's ace in the hole, and the less it interacts with EMC, the better its chances that EMC will solve all of its future supply problems.
Relying on only one potential future supplier for a critical input, however, is not a sound business strategy, so it makes sense for Bloom Energy to nudge its Chinese suppliers to pursue a relationship with Platina, owner of Owendale. It makes no sense for Bloom to approach Platina directly, because Platina is an exploration junior whose management team lacks the technical skills to develop an optimal scandium recovery flowsheet, let alone build and operate a scandium mine. Bloom also lacks these skills, and, as tends to be the case with manufacturers of advanced products, has no interest in getting involved with the nitty gritty of mine development and operation. Platina has done a good job delineating the Owendale scandium resource, which is what exploration companies are good at, but it has not yet accomplished anything with regard to the metallurgy of Owendale. In fact, Platina only embarked on metallurgical studies in 2014 by collecting a bulk sample, and, judging from its disclosures, has limited its activity to exploring gravity, magnetic and flotation separation methods, none of which addresses the liberation of scandium from the goethite lattice in the laterite ore within which the scandium is embedded. At best these stages will reduce the volume of ore by 60%-70% with some loss of scandium bearing material. The difficult part on which Metallica and EMC have invested considerable time, effort and expense for their respective Lucknow and Nyngan deposits is the cracking of the scandium bearing minerals to allow the precipitation of a scandium oxide powder with a purity of 95%-97% Sc2O3. The cracking inevitably involves a combination of pressure, temperature and acid that must be fine tuned for the particular mineralogy of the ore. The greatest portion of the scandium mining cost resides in this "cracking" stage which also requires sophisticated process engineering. This is the task Platina cannot accomplish with its own resources, which is why it has turned to Honfine and HNOSC which possess the technical skills and resources to develop a full-fledged flow-sheet for Owendale. "
http://www.kaiserresearch.com/s/Excerpt.asp?ReportID=675349
George Putnam, CEO of EMC Metals, commented:
"This PEA represents the first public disclosure by EMC of the economics of the Nyngan Project, and we are very happy with both the financial and operational result. The good mineral recovery from HPAL shows the flow sheet to be well chosen, and the modest capital estimate and output reflects an appropriate size project with which to initiate scandium market growth. This PEA puts EMC on a fast track to complete a feasibility study in 12 months and be first to production with an appropriate scale scandium project by Q1 2017."
William Harris, Chairman of EMC Metals, commented:
"With this scandium project, EMC has the ability to satisfy waiting markets for a specialty metal that has never been available in quantities that meet commercial minimums. With this PEA, EMC demonstrates that work done over the previous four years can now be consolidated into a rapid development schedule that positions Nyngan to meet this opportunity, profitably. We are enthusiastic about the potential of this project for the Company and its shareholders."
EMC's trading was actually halted yesterday pending its material announcement. I didn't even notice this announcement until today and I follow the stock very closely.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 14, 2014) - Trading resumes in:
Company: EMC Metals Corp.
TSX Symbol: EMC
Resumption Time (ET): 12:15
IIROC can make a decision to impose a temporary suspension of trading in a security of a publicly listed company, usually in anticipation of a material news announcement by the company. Trading halts are issued based on the principle that all investors should have the same timely access to important company information. IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada.
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2014/10/14/iiroc-trade-resumption-emc-metals-corp
Followers
|
10
|
Posters
|
|
Posts (Today)
|
0
|
Posts (Total)
|
264
|
Created
|
12/06/10
|
Type
|
Free
|
Moderators |
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |