Australian Mines confirms partnership with Metalysis for aluminium-scandium alloy

With the aim to accelerate revenue generation and shareholder value at the flagship project Sconi in Queensland, the metals explorer Australian Mines (ASX: AUZ) confirms its partnership deal with UK-based technology company Metalysis. The company intends to commercialise the high-purity scandium oxide through this partnership that could command higher revenue margins and serve as better final products for end-users.

The company believes this agreement should add positively to the ongoing research and development programme around “a solid-state process to produce a low-cost yet superior aluminium-scandium alloy for potential use by the automotive and aerospace industries”.

Originally invented by the University of Cambridge and then commercialised by Metalysis, this innovative solid-state process has already proven the fact that it can produce an aluminium-scandium master alloy with 15 times more scandium than any other conventional industrial processes.

If Australian Mines can successfully utilise this process, then it would be able to produce scandium-rich master alloys that contain 30 per cent scandium metal, while generating a 93 per cent reduction in the amount of scandium master alloy required for producing the final aluminium-scandium products for end-users.

This novel process would ultimately result in manufacturing more efficient product at lower cost thereby, positioning Australian Mines as a global leader in the emerging light-weight alloy sector.