Drilling at Scandium Canada's (TSXV: SCD) Crater Lake project in northern Quebec has returned assays as strong as 13.4 metres grading 315 parts per million (ppm) scandium, as the company advances toward a resource update this year and a subsequent economic study.

The highlight result, from 32.7 metres depth in hole CLB26070 of the TG zone, included 65.4 metres at 175 ppm scandium oxide (Sc₂O₃) from 122 metres downhole, and 7.2 metres grading 316 ppm Sc₂O₃, the company reported Wednesday. Crater Lake, located in the Nunavik region, lies about 1,290 km northeast of Montreal.

Existing resource: 16M indicated tonnes

The TG zone hosts 16.3 million indicated tonnes grading 277.9 grams scandium per tonne, alongside 20.9 million inferred tonnes at 271.7 grams scandium, according to the previous resource update issued last year.

"A preliminary economic assessment incorporating updated and improved resource, process optimization, and infrastructure assumptions provides a more relevant basis for evaluating project economics and engaging potential strategic partners," Scandium Canada CEO Simon Thibault said in a release.

"This approach is particularly appropriate as Scandium Canada's near-term priority is to accelerate the commercialization of subsidiary Scalium+'s aluminum-scandium alloys, thereby fostering sustainable market demand that can support the future development of the Crater Lake Project over the medium and long term."

One of the world's largest primary deposits

Crater Lake is regarded as one of the world's largest primary deposits of scandium, a metal the Canadian government classifies as critical — scandium appears on Canada's official critical minerals list, a designation tied to the federal Critical Minerals Strategy. Scandium is used mainly in aluminum alloys, fuel cells and high-intensity lighting; adding even small amounts of the metal to aluminum measurably improves strength, weldability and corrosion resistance, properties valued in aerospace and automotive applications. Most global scandium supply is produced as a byproduct of processing other ores, with output concentrated in countries such as Russia, China and Ukraine, which makes sizeable primary deposits like Crater Lake uncommon.

Rio Tinto (ASX, NYSE, LSE: RIO) holds Canada's sole scandium production plant at Sorel-Tracy, Que., which began producing scandium oxide in 2020, though the scandium is derived as a byproduct from mining ilmenite ore at Rio Tinto's Lac Tio mine in the province's east.

Scandium Canada shares gained almost 5% to 22¢ on Wednesday morning in Toronto, giving the company a market capitalization of $106.7 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 2¢ to 36¢.

Additional continuous intervals

Other noteworthy drill holes at TG include CLB26072, which returned 30.2 metres grading 228 ppm Sc₂O₃ from 7.3 metres depth, as well as 125 metres at 232 ppm Sc₂O₃ from 55.1 metres downhole and 10.3 metres grading 461 ppm Sc₂O₃.

Hole CLB26073 cut 14.1 metres at 227 ppm Sc₂O₃ from 9 metres depth, including 33.8 metres grading 222 ppm Sc₂O₃ and 7.1 metres at 346 ppm Sc₂O₃.

Oxide plant planned for Schefferville

Alongside its plan to release a resource update before the end of the year, Scandium Canada has decided a scandium oxide plant should be constructed in the Schefferville region of Quebec — 200 km southwest of Crater Lake — ideally at a brownfield site. The completion of a preliminary economic assessment would precede the acquisition of that site, Scandium Canada said. Schefferville is a former iron ore mining town on the Quebec–Newfoundland and Labrador border in the Labrador Trough, served by a railway connecting the region to the port of Sept-Îles.

Source: The Northern Miner