en.Wedoany.com Reported - Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD) has secured a co-funding grant from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to evaluate downstream development pathways for scandium, with a total project budget of $104,000. CSIRO will provide up to $50,000 under its Kick-Start program, with the remainder matched by Mount Ridley.

Managing Director and CEO Allister Caird stated that this marks the first step in the company's anticipated major downstream plans, noting that scandium will play a crucial role in rapidly growing industries such as aerospace, robotics, and defense, with no suitable substitutes available for these high-performance alloy applications. Caird said CSIRO's Lab22 laboratory, with its unique expertise in additive manufacturing of critical minerals and metals, is the ideal partner for this work.

Global supply of refined scandium remains limited, with no dedicated scandium mines currently in operation. Industrial-grade scandium metal is priced between $3,700 and $4,500 per kilogram, while high-purity supplies may command even higher prices. Mount Ridley holds a JORC-compliant inferred mineral resource of 367.98 million tonnes at its Grass Patch complex in Western Australia, with a scandium grade of 57.2 ppm (Sc2O3 87.9 ppm), containing approximately 18,555 tonnes of scandium metal. The current resource only reflects a portion of historical drill samples analyzed for scandium, and the company is re-analyzing historical samples previously untested for scandium content, offering meaningful potential for resource growth.

Caird stated that the company's scandium resource is among the largest, with plans extending beyond resource estimation. The scandium at Grass Patch is located within the same regolith as heavy rare earth and gallium resources, enabling potential co-extraction and processing.

The first-phase funding is the initial stage of a multi-phase CSIRO research program aimed at developing scandium-based materials for additive manufacturing. The company plans to establish a proprietary position in high-value advanced manufacturing supply chains, providing a foundation for subsequent alloy development, strategic partnerships, and potential licensing opportunities in sectors such as aerospace, defense, and robotics. CSIRO will deliver a report titled "Scandium Alloys for Additive Manufacturing: Phase One," which will be owned by Mount Ridley's intellectual property.