Our Search for Rare Earth Elements - Our Wonderings

Yesterday we read the New Zealand Herald Article "Game Changer: Discovery on Tiny Island Could Alter Global Economy"

Here are our wonderings about rare earth elements so far...

We used these resources to help us find out about Rare Earth Elements and why they're important:

Wikipedia Rare Earth Elements Article

Rare Earth Resources

What are Rare Earth's Used for?

We talked a lot about Neodymium and how important it is to have it as a magnet in many devices we use today.  We need these magnets as they are really strong in small amounts compared to ferris magnets that would have to be really large to be as strong as a neodymium magnet.

Ultrapure neodymium under argon.  Image linked from here