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The mineralogy of Scandium

General Properties
Symbol:	Sc
Atomic Number:	21
Standard atomic weight (A_r):	44.955912(6)
Electron configuration:	[Ar] 3d¹ 4s²

Photos

<	Scandium sublimed dendritic and a cube	>

Atomic Properties
Electronegativity (Pauling scale):	1.36
Atomic Radius:	184 pm
Ionic Radius:	74.5 pm (+3)
1st Ionization energy:	633 kJ/mol
1st Electron affinity:	-18 kJ/mol
Oxidation States:	1,2,3

Physical Properties
Standard State:	solid
Bonding Type:	metallic
Melting Point:	1814 K
Boiling Point:	3103 K
Density:	2.99 g/cm³
Metal/Non-Metal:	transition metal

Main isotopes of Scandium
Isotope	% in Nature	Half Life	Decay type	Decay product
^44m2Sc	synthetic	58.61h	Isomeric transition	⁴⁴Sc
^44m2Sc	synthetic	58.61h	ε	⁴⁴Ca
⁴⁵Sc	100%	stable
⁴⁶Sc	synthetic	83.79d		⁴⁶Ti
⁴⁷Sc	synthetic	3.3492d		⁴⁷Ti
⁴⁸Sc	synthetic	43.67h		⁴⁸Ti

Main ions of Scandium
Name	Ion	Example minerals
scandium	Sc³⁺	Kolbeckite

Other Information
Year Discovered:	1879
Discovered By:	Lars Fredrik Nilson
Year Predicted:	1871
Year Isolated:	1879
Isolated By:	Lars Fredrik Nilson
Named For:	From Latin: Scandia - "Scandinavia"
CPK color coding:	#E6E6E6
External Links:	Wikipedia WebElements Los Alamos National Laboratory Theodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com

Simple Compounds
Sulfides	discandium trisulphide	Sc₂S₃	+3
Tellurides	discandium tritelluride	Sc₂Te₃	+3
Hydrides	scandium dihydride	ScH₂	+2
Hydrides	scandium trihydride	ScH₃	+3
Hydroxides	scandium hydroxide	Sc(OH)₃	+3
Fluorides	scandium trifluoride	ScF₃	+3
Chlorides	scandium trichloride	ScCl₃	+3
Iodides	scandium triiodide	ScI₃	+3
Oxides	discandium trioxide	Sc₂O₃	+3

Mineral Diversity of Scandium
4. Oxides	7 valid mineral species
8. Phosphates, Arsenates, Vanadates	5 valid mineral species
9. Silicates	14 valid mineral species
Total:	26 valid species containing essential Scandium

Minerals with the greatest weight % of Scandium
Kangite	(Sc,Ti,Al,Zr,Mg,Ca,□)₂O₃	65.20 %
Thortveitite	Sc₂Si₂O₇	34.84 %
Warkite	Ca₂Sc₆Al₆O₂₀	32.43 %
Pretulite	Sc(PO₄)	32.13 %
Allendeite	Sc₄Zr₃O₁₂	27.86 %
Kolbeckite	ScPO₄·2H₂O	25.55 %
Nioboheftetjernite	ScNbO₄	22.27 %
Bonacinaite	Sc(AsO₄)·2H₂O	20.44 %
Jervisite	NaSc³⁺Si₂O₆	20.42 %
Davisite	CaScAlSiO₆	19.04 %

Geochemistry of Scandium
Goldschmidt classification:	Lithophile
Sc³⁺ was one of the ions least depleted from the mantle in the formation of the crust.
Sc³⁺ is enriched in Ca-Al-rich inclusions in meteorites relative to the composition of the solar system.
Sc³⁺ enters early-forming phases in igneous rocks.
Sc³⁺ is commonly concentrated in residual soils and sediments.

Elemental Abundance for Scandium
Crust (CRC Handbook)	2.2 x 10^-5	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Kaye & Laby)	2.2 x 10^-5	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Greenwood)	2.5 x 10^-5	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)	3.0 x 10^-5	mass fraction, kg/kg
Crust (Ahrens/Wänke)	2.14 x 10^-5	mass fraction, kg/kg
Upper Crust (Ahrens/Taylor)	1.1 x 10^-5	mass fraction, kg/kg
Upper Crust (Ahrens/Shaw)	7 x 10^-6	mass fraction, kg/kg
Sea Water (CRC Handbook)	6 x 10^-13	mass per volume fraction, kg/L
Sea Water (Kaye & Laby)	< 4 x 10^-12	mass per volume fraction, kg/L
The Sun (Kaye & Laby)	3.5 x 10^-5	atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Kaye & Laby)	3.4 x 10^-5	atom mole fraction relative to Si=1
Solar System (Ahrens)	3.42 x 10^-5 (8.6%)	atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty)

Element association of Scandium in the Mineral World
This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Scandium and the other elements listed based on the official IMA formula. Note that unlike other sections on this page this includes non-essential elements. The first data column contains the total number of minerals listed with Scandium and the element listed for that row. The second data column lists this number as a percentage of all minerals listed with Scandium. The final data column compares this percentage against the percentage of all minerals that contain the element listed in each row. Click on a heading to sort.

Element	Valid Minerals listed with element and Scandium	% of Sc minerals	Relative to % in all minerals
Oxygen	25 minerals with Sc and O	100.00%	23.60% higher
Silicon	13 minerals with Sc and Si	52.00%	88.34% higher
Calcium	12 minerals with Sc and Ca	48.00%	93.06% higher
Hydrogen	10 minerals with Sc and H	40.00%	28.19% lower
Magnesium	5 minerals with Sc and Mg	20.00%	49.52% higher
Aluminium	5 minerals with Sc and Al	20.00%	0.16% higher
Phosphorus	4 minerals with Sc and P	16.00%	30.49% higher
Beryllium	3 minerals with Sc and Be	12.00%	458.50% higher
Sodium	3 minerals with Sc and Na	12.00%	35.74% lower
Niobium	2 minerals with Sc and Nb	8.00%	166.24% higher
Zirconium	2 minerals with Sc and Zr	8.00%	230.13% higher
Fluorine	1 mineral with Sc and F	4.00%	49.47% lower
Potassium	1 mineral with Sc and K	4.00%	59.81% lower
Manganese	1 mineral with Sc and Mn	4.00%	65.61% lower
Iron	1 mineral with Sc and Fe	4.00%	82.17% lower
Arsenic	1 mineral with Sc and As	4.00%	69.05% lower
Barium	1 mineral with Sc and Ba	4.00%	13.43% lower
Titanium	1 mineral with Sc and Ti	4.00%	42.55% lower
Yttrium	1 mineral with Sc and Y	4.00%	74.37% higher
Tin	1 mineral with Sc and Sn	4.00%	119.12% higher
Tantalum	1 mineral with Sc and Ta	4.00%	253.71% higher

Periodic Table

2He

3Li

4Be

Show/hide current element

Default Categories CPK Electronegativity Atomic Radius Lowest Oxidation Highest Oxidation Crustal Abundance Goldschmidt Mineral Species Minerals with Sc Relative Frequency

Calcium << Scandium >> Titanium

Most widespread minerals containing Scandium
This list of minerals containing Scandium is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Scandium mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.

Most widespread minerals containing Scandium

This list of minerals containing Scandium is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Scandium mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species.

Name	Formula	Crystal System	Mindat Localities
Thortveitite	Sc₂Si₂O₇	Monoclinic	78
Bazzite	Be₃Sc₂(Si₆O₁₈)	Hexagonal	60
Kolbeckite	ScPO₄ · 2H₂O	Monoclinic	33
Pretulite	Sc(PO₄)	Tetragonal	15
Kristiansenite	Ca₄(Sc₂Sn₂)[Si₂O₇]₂[Si₂O₆OH]₂	Triclinic	10
Cascandite	CaScSi₃O₈(OH)	Triclinic	8
Jervisite	NaSc³⁺Si₂O₆	Monoclinic	7
Davisite	CaScAlSiO₆	Monoclinic	5
Eringaite	Ca₃Sc₂(SiO₄)₃	Isometric	4
Scandiobabingtonite	(Ca,Na)₂(Fe²⁺,Mn)(Sc,Fe³⁺)Si₅O₁₄(OH)	Triclinic	4

Photos
Thortveitite Landsverk 3 Feldspar Quarry, Landsverk, Evje og Hornnes, Agder, Norway Bazzite Bonneval-Tarentaise, La Léchère, Albertville, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France Kolbeckite, etc. Union Carbide Christy Vanadium Mine, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA Pretulite Höllkogel, Alpl, Freßnitzgraben, Krieglach, Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District, Styria, Austria Thortveitite Landsverk 3 Feldspar Quarry, Landsverk, Evje og Hornnes, Agder, Norway Bazzite Bonneval-Tarentaise, La Léchère, Albertville, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France Kolbeckite, etc. Union Carbide Christy Vanadium Mine, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA Pretulite Höllkogel, Alpl, Freßnitzgraben, Krieglach, Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District, Styria, Austria Thortveitite Landsverk 3 Feldspar Quarry, Landsverk, Evje og Hornnes, Agder, Norway Bazzite Bonneval-Tarentaise, La Léchère, Albertville, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France Kolbeckite, etc. Union Carbide Christy Vanadium Mine, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA Pretulite Höllkogel, Alpl, Freßnitzgraben, Krieglach, Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District, Styria, Austria

Photos

Thortveitite

Landsverk 3 Feldspar Quarry, Landsverk, Evje og Hornnes, Agder, Norway

Bazzite

Bonneval-Tarentaise, La Léchère, Albertville, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Kolbeckite, etc.

Union Carbide Christy Vanadium Mine, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA

Pretulite

Höllkogel, Alpl, Freßnitzgraben, Krieglach, Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District, Styria, Austria

Thortveitite

Landsverk 3 Feldspar Quarry, Landsverk, Evje og Hornnes, Agder, Norway

Bazzite

Bonneval-Tarentaise, La Léchère, Albertville, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Kolbeckite, etc.

Union Carbide Christy Vanadium Mine, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA

Pretulite

Höllkogel, Alpl, Freßnitzgraben, Krieglach, Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District, Styria, Austria

Thortveitite

Landsverk 3 Feldspar Quarry, Landsverk, Evje og Hornnes, Agder, Norway

Bazzite

Bonneval-Tarentaise, La Léchère, Albertville, Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Kolbeckite, etc.

Union Carbide Christy Vanadium Mine, Magnet Cove, Hot Spring County, Arkansas, USA

Pretulite

Höllkogel, Alpl, Freßnitzgraben, Krieglach, Bruck-Mürzzuschlag District, Styria, Austria

Localities with greatest number of different Scandium mineral species

1	Heftetjern pegmatite, Tørdal, Drangedal, Telemark, Norway	8 Sc minerals
2	Seula mine, Mount Camoscio, Oltrefiume, Baveno, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province, Piedmont, Italy	6 Sc minerals
3	Allende meteorite, Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico	4 Sc minerals
4	Scala dei Ratti Quarry (Ratti Quarry; Scala Quarry), Feriolo, Baveno, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province, Piedmont, Italy	4 Sc minerals
5	Moss Meteorite, Moss, Østfold, Norway	4 Sc minerals
6	Bayan Obo deposit, Bayan Obo, Bayan Obo mining district, Baotou City (Baotou Prefecture), Inner Mongolia, China	4 Sc minerals
		4 Sc minerals
8	Locatelli quarry, Mount Camoscio, Oltrefiume, Baveno, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province, Piedmont, Italy	4 Sc minerals

Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.

Constants and physical property data from:

Lide, David R. - Ed. (2005) CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data (85th ed.). CRC Press.
National Physical Laboratory (2005) Kaye and Laby Online (discontinued). https://web.archive.org/web/20190506031327/http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/
Kaye, G. W. C.; Laby, T. H. (n.d.) Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants and some Mathematical Functions. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Greenwood, N.N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997) Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth–Heinemann.
Ahrens, Thomas J. - Ed. (1995) Global Earth Physics - A Handbook of Physical Constants - AGU Reference Shelf No. 1. American Geophysical Union.
Railsback, L. Bruce (2003) An earth scientist's periodic table of the elements and their ions. Geology, 31 (9) 737 doi:10.1130/g19542.1
Emsley, John (2001) Nature's Building Blocks - An A-Z Guide to the Elements. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

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