RARE EARTH

Strictly speaking, rare earth materials are elements like others on the periodic table-such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen-with atomic numbers 57 to 71.

In fact, rare earth materials are far more prevalent in the Earth's crust compared to many other valuable elements. The scarcest rare earth, thulium, with an atomic number of 69, is actually 125 times more abundant than gold.

Rare earth magnets are permanent magnets having a composition of alloys manufactured from rare earth elements (mostly elements from lanthanide series, and alloys). There are two types of rare earth magnets, and they are neodymium magnets and samarium-cobalt magnets.

Rare earth materials are employed in high-technology devices, such as smartphones, digital cameras, PET scanners, computer hard disks, fluorescent and LED lights, flat-screen televisions, computer monitors, and electronic displays.

Commercial extraction of rare earths is dominated by a small number of mineralogies, including bastnaesite, ion-adsorption clays, monazite and xenotime, which collectively account for over 95% of economic production.