The US has not actively mined scandium in decades, leaving the market heavily dependent on China. “It may become an American company,” chairman Robert Friedland said Monday in a Bloomberg TV interview. “The world has entered an era in which access to critical minerals will shape industrial strength, technology leadership and national security. Scandium is one of the clearest examples, supporting the technologies, industries and defence capabilities that will shape the coming decades,” Friedland said. Meanwhile, Sunrise Energy Metals’ Syerston project in New South Wales, designed to produce 60 tonnes annually and one of several proposed non-Chinese sources, has yet to begin construction.