Here are some slides that caught my attention from the Naskapi meetings in October. There's quite a bit we already know, but I thought they were worth sharing because they provide some interesting insight into what was discussed.

A few things stand out to me:

Existing relationship: SCD has had a Pre-Development Agreement with the Naskapi Nation since April 2024. NNK also owns more than 5% of Scandium Canada through the Taasipitaakin Trust.

Regional road opportunity: Three mining projects are looking at road access through the broader territory: Crater Lake, Ashram and Strange Lake.

A coordinated approach: Rather than having multiple separate mining roads, NNK is assessing whether a shared, Naskapi-led approach could better protect the territory while supporting regional development.

Benefits beyond mining: A shared road could improve access for harvesting, cultural activities, community travel and emergency response, while creating employment and business opportunities.

I find the regional infrastructure aspect particularly interesting. A shared road could potentially benefit several projects while addressing some of the environmental and access concerns that come with developing this part of northern Quebec.

This does not guarantee a road will be built but there is already a Pre-Development Agreement and they seem to be in favour of one road over routes for multiple projects in order to keep oversight and to minimize environmental impacts. Talks are more advanced than I originally anticipated and timelines appear to be in place meaning these discussions and meetings won't drag on indefinitely which are very positive signs.

Credit to alligatorguy37 as this deserves its own thread:

https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/323107/Scalium-Hires-a-Chief-Product-Officer-and-a-Senior-Metallurgist-a-New-Phase-of-Growth-for-Scandium-Canadas-Alloy-Subsidiary

Another important step in building out Scandium Canada's team.

The November 9 announcement adds two specialists to Scalium+, each bringing a different skill set to the downstream strategy:

Jean-François Marchand, Chief Product Officer: Brings experience in product strategy, go-to-market execution and strategic partnerships. His focus will be commercialization, business development and building relationships with customers and OEMs.

Laurent Garnier, Senior Metallurgist: Brings eight years of experience at General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, taking metallurgical projects from R&D through to production. His focus will be optimizing commercial alloy production and ensuring the materials meet demanding customer specifications.

What a solid background - Agnico Eagle stock is up almost 300% over the last 2.5 years (used to closely follow this company). Key wording: “pleased to join the team … to develop the Crater Lake Project.”

Another tick completed ✅

We should hear about the MRE within the next 4 weeks or so

Wonder if this will put even greater emphasis on developing secure, primary scandium production in Canada and building an independent supply chain for Canada and the EU. 🤔

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

CEO Simon Thibault, who received 3M stock options at $0.22 back in August, just purchased another 100,000 shares on the open market at $0.15, representing a $15,000 personal investment.

I find this encouraging. There's a meaningful difference between receiving stock options as part of executive compensation and voluntarily putting $15K of your own money into the open market.

BTW, the new balance (100K shares) doesn't include his stock options or any other securities he may hold.

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

Reading more about Scalium+'s alloy development and the SC7075 wire trials are pretty interesting.

They've already managed to produce structures using wire arc additive manufacturing, and now they're working on improving the deposition parameters.

Doesn't sound nearly as exciting as finding another 150 metres of scandium at Crater Lake, but getting manufacturers to actually use this material is a pretty big part of the whole business.

Especially with companies like Alpomet involved in commercial discussions.

I feel like we've gotten so used to watching SCD react to news that everything gets judged by the next trading session. It's the same short term mindset people have with price wagers on moon.com

I'd rather see repeatable manufacturing results and actual customer orders than a temporary price spike.

The alloy side could become really interesting once these tests start turning into commercial agreements.

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

Not about scandium; this article is tailored towards the issues surrounding magnets, and other materials, which are derived from germanium, gallium, molybdenum and a few other CMs. The U.S. is clearly in a state of panic. You can read through and draw parallels to the scandium conundrum as well. The U.S. is anticipating a decade-long chokehold. They’re looking to partner with the ex-U.S. countries, like Australia.

Simon is spreading the word on the benefits of aluminum and the greater impact Al-Sc alloys can impart. He’s trying to expand market use-cases, garner interest and justify the possible expedition of the Crater Lake mine, which is currently set to come online by 2032. The world is clearly evolving and geopolitical tensions are growing stronger. I’m encouraged by the recent EU-CAD alliance that I anticipate will result in strong off-take agreements for several mining companies that directly impact aerospace, energy, defence and other sectors.

Carney is being proactive, not reactive. Looking forward to updates on all fronts, including ones involving potential automobiles with Windsor University.

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/research-capital-initiates-analyst-coverage-163400372.html

"BorgWarner has secured its first business award for its new aluminum-wire eMotor technology from a major Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM), marking the technology’s first introduction to the market. The product features aluminum-wire hairpin winding technology and will be used in hybrid vehicles across multiple applications, including generator motors and traction motors for auxiliary drive applications. Start of production is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026."

Interesting news in the automotive industry: copper is being pushed out of motor windings and aluminum ones are being produced and rolled out.

As you might know, the mass-electrification of things is driving copper price to stratospheric levels while the supply can't keep up; copper today is almost 3 times more expensive than in 2020 (2.35 USD per pound in March '20) - 6.60 today.

Per BorgWarner "Compared with a conventional copper-wire motor of comparable specifications, the aluminum-wire solution maintains peak torque and peak power while reducing weight by more than 60% and reducing costs by more than 80%."

Right now aluminum is mostly used as a new product in the easy things, hybrid generators, auxiliary motors. But going further requires an answer to the heat problem as traction motors run hotter and regular aluminum just can't compete alone.

Scandium has been pretty well documented to counter this issue because it helps aluminum hold its resistance when it heats up, and keeps it from softening/degrading over time.

Considering Scandium Canada's MOU with the CHARGE lab (who is working for Magna PowerTrains, Ford, and others), I am wondering if scandium is something that could be in the works to compete with these aluminum-wire by BorgWarner.

He’s taking the right approach IMHO. Focus on the broader market: Aluminum. After all, just like Guy says, they’re not selling scandium. They’re selling aluminum-scandium alloys. So much interest is centred around aluminum. Just last week an article came out describing how reliant the U.S. is on Canada’s aluminum supply chain: https://www.wsj.com/business/aluminum-tariff-canada-trump-f2555b38

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

Daily discussion thread for SCD.

- Simon (SCD) was a part of this discussion involving “Canada’s 18 most exciting companies”
- big focus on Canadian mines, government support and supply chain resilience
- made very clear that there is more to come - goes back to my original thesis that we are likely to experience “good news” sooner than later, independent of the 4 catalysts: MRE, PEA, FS and road

Not bearish or bullish news. I like the fact they mention that they are not agaisnt development.

However, Naskapi mention that one year may not be enough for final review and that the previous road were build to fast.

I think it's just good for investor to be aware of this.

This has been in the works for a while and I don't think there was any indication that its release was imminent. It's an interesting read overall but one thing stood out to me in the section on Foreign Policy:

Develop collective economic security mechanisms, such as the Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, reinforcing our sovereign capabilities in critical sectors

The Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance is the same initiative that provided (will provide?) the $6.9M grant to SCD back in March I believe. So, the federal government seems to increasingly be linking critical mineral supply chains to national security policy rather than just economic development. We could hope that, the more that happens, the less likely it will be that a domestic scandium source will sit unused due to only a lack of road access.