Rare earth metals are often used in alloys to create powerful magnets required for modern technology, or form compounds vital to other functions.
China produces about 95% of the world's REE. The Asian giant began mining these coveted elements on a massive scale in the mid-1980s, and after nearly two decades of lax environmental regulation has only recently begun to address the consequences of extracting these fossils.
China has begun to boost reserves of rare earths in recent weeks and has intensified efforts to combat illegal mining and export of these key ingredients for modern electronics and technology.
In this regard, world prices for neodymium have gained 10% since the beginning of May, and the metal is trading at $ 56 per kilogram. An alloy of neodymium and iron is used for the production of neodymium magnets, which are widely represented at http://bryansk.p-magnit.ru/.
Dysprosium, which is used in nuclear reactors and as a laser material, retails for about $ 265 a kilogram, up 3% from a month earlier, while prices for terbium, a phosphor raw material, rose 11% to about $ 570 per kilogram.
Processing rare earth metals is currently time-consuming, expensive and dangerous, experts say. The ore of these chemical elements is often permeated with radioactive materials such as thorium, and significant volumes of sulfates, ammonia and hydrochloric acid are required to separate from toxins. In fact, it is estimated that processing one ton of rare earths could generate about 2,000 tons of toxic waste, exacerbating the environmental problems for China, which it has been actively trying to address in recent years.
