All articles tagged with #scandium
The US government, via the Office of Strategic Capital, approved a $400 million loan to Sunrise Energy to advance its Syerston scandium mine near Parkes, NSW, with a right of first offer on output and a planned US listing; backed by Robert Friedland, the move aims to diversify non-Chinese rare-earth supplies for defence and tech industries, and Sunrise shares rose as production is targeted for the second half of 2028.
Sunrise Energy Metals jumped as much as 29% after the U.S. provided $400 million in long‑term debt financing to back the development of the world’s first primary scandium mine at Sunrise’s Syerston project in New South Wales. The funding, via the U.S. Office of Strategic Capital with a conditional loan commitment from the DoD, fits a broader push to diversify away from China’s dominance in rare earths and establish a scandium value chain for defense and tech uses; the shares later closed over 16% higher, underscoring the strategic importance of critical minerals.”
The US DoD announced a $400 million conditional loan to Sunrise Energy Metals to build the Syerston Scandium Project in Fifield, NSW—the world’s first primary scandium mine—aimed at securing Western supply amid China’s export controls; the project is part of a broader push including a bilateral critical minerals pact and a planned $3 billion in investments to boost domestic production for defence, aerospace and telecom tech.
Scientists have identified scandium as a promising element for the development of nuclear clocks, which could offer accuracy up to 1 second in 300 billion years. Unlike atomic clocks that rely on electron shell oscillation, nuclear clocks use the oscillation of the atomic nucleus for enhanced timekeeping. Scandium's atomic resonances are more acute than those of electrons, making it a potential candidate. However, generating the necessary oscillation in scandium requires X-rays with high energy levels. The researchers demonstrated a resonant width of only 1.4 femtoelectronvolts, suggesting an accuracy of 1:10,000,000,000,000. This advancement could have applications in extreme metrology, nuclear clock technology, and ultra-high-precision spectroscopy.
An international research team has made a significant breakthrough in the development of atomic clocks by creating a pulse generator based on scandium that is a thousand times more precise than the current standard atomic clock based on cesium. Using the X-ray laser at the European XFEL, the team achieved an accuracy of one second in 300 billion years, compared to the current standard of one second in 300 million years. Atomic clocks have numerous applications, including precise positioning using satellite navigation, and the breakthrough opens up possibilities for ultrahigh-precision spectroscopy and the measurement of fundamental physical effects.
Researchers have achieved a new record for the highest elemental superconducting transition temperature by reaching 36 K in elemental scandium (Sc) under high pressure. The study provides insights into the relationship between the structure of elemental materials and their superconducting properties, opening up possibilities for discovering high-temperature superconducting materials in simple systems.