Rusal to Launch Pilot Scandium Oxide Production From Red Mud at Bogoslovsky Smelter by End of 2025

MOSCOW, February 27, 2025 — Rusal, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, announced plans to commission a pilot facility producing 1.55 tonnes of scandium oxide per year by the end of 2025. The unit is being created at the Bogoslovsky Aluminium Smelter in Krasnoturyinsk, Sverdlovsk Region, with investment of about 500 million roubles, the company said in a release reported by Interfax.

Laboratory glass jar containing red mineral residue and another containing white powder

A rare-earth pilot line at an aluminium smelter

The pilot unit will produce 1.55 tonnes of scandium oxide a year and is scheduled to enter operation at the end of 2025 at the Bogoslovsky Aluminium Smelter, a Rusal asset in Krasnoturyinsk, Sverdlovsk Region. Investment in the project will total around 500 million roubles.

"In the future, as we move to industrial production, scandium oxide output volumes could be increased to 19 tonnes per year," Rusal said.

Scandium is a rare-earth metal produced mainly in the form of scandium oxide, and global output of the oxide fluctuates within 20–25 tonnes a year. Even at the pilot stage, the project will allow Rusal to become one of the world's leading producers of scandium oxide, the company noted.

Red mud as the raw material

The feedstock for the new facility will be red mud, a waste product of alumina production. Scandium belongs to the so-called dispersed elements: they occur in microscopic concentrations in various ores, and their extraction is a complex and often economically unviable process.

"Rusal is the only company in the world developing a technology for producing scandium oxide from red mud. Globally, it is mainly produced as a by-product of titanium dioxide or uranium production," the company explained.

From fuel cells to lightweight alloys

The primary application of scandium oxide is the manufacture of solid oxide fuel cells for electrochemical power generators. Scandium also gives alloys increased strength, which makes it possible to reduce the weight of the finished product compared with an equivalent made from conventional alloys.

That is a critical advantage for many areas of aluminium use, including transport engineering, where vehicle weight reduction is one of the global trends, the release said. Rusal has developed and introduced aluminium-scandium alloys used to make ultra-light products in civil shipbuilding, railway car manufacturing and 3D printing of high-tech prostheses.

Key facts of the announcement

Pilot capacity: 1.55 tonnes of scandium oxide per year, commissioning planned for the end of 2025.
Location: Bogoslovsky Aluminium Smelter, Krasnoturyinsk, Sverdlovsk Region.
Investment: about 500 million roubles.
Potential industrial-scale output: up to 19 tonnes per year.
Global scandium oxide production: 20–25 tonnes per year.
Feedstock: red mud, a waste of alumina production; Rusal calls itself the only company developing scandium oxide extraction from this material.
Main application: solid oxide fuel cells for electrochemical power generators.