Rees Are Essential For The Production Of The Miniature Magnets Used In Flat Screen Tvs And Laptops

There has been some debate among investors and those who advise them about the prices

of Rare Earth Metals (REMs), or Rare Earth Elements (REEs) as they are also known, and the risk involved in buying them.

This debate focuses on their scarcity, their availability and whether it is possible to substitute a cheaper alternative in some of the products in which REMs are an essential component.

China restricts export of REMs and the scarcity and availability issues relate to this rather than to the scarcity of REMs themselves because the process of extracting the small quantities available in other mined ores is complex and would only be cost effective if demand were to increase, so that in this sense China's current near-monopoly of expertise in the extraction process and its restrictions on export would work in favour of extraction and production elsewhere.

A widely-reported interview with Bob Wolf, Alliance LLC vice president, for The Critical Metals Report also sheds some light on the debate, particularly on the possibility of substitution.

This focused on their use in a variety of magnets which are essential components of products such as flat screen televisions and laptops. Mr Wold cited examples to illustrate the importance of specific REMs: without lanthanum, there would be no flat-screen TVs and without the REEs (Rare Earth Elements) in neodymium iron boron magnets, a laptop would become the size of a small room, because REE magnets are required for small disk drives.

He explained that the REE magnets are substantially smaller than a ferrite magnet would be but also that they perform significantly better than any other alternative.

In some medical appliances there is also no substitute for the tiny motors that are only possible with the use of REEs, for example, the motors used in medical devices inside arteries to clean out plaque. These devices could not exist without neodymium magnets.

These examples suggest that investors need not be overly concerned about the risks of investing in REEs such as lanthanum and neodymium, where product components depend on using them to achieve the miniaturisation without which the products themselves could not exist.

Another factor to consider is ongoing technological advance and demand for new techniques in medicine.

Here also REMs have a part to play. An example is the MRI scan, a medical imaging technique using strong magnetic fields to image soft tissues in the body without using any form of radiation.

To achieve a greater precision by focusing on perhaps a tumour or the blood vessels, physicians can administer specific contrast agents. These cause a change in the magnetic behaviour of the tissues in which they accumulate which then improves the quality of the image of the selected tissue, making for more accurate diagnosis and mapping of a condition or problem. Frequently used contrast agents for MRI are based on the REE gadolinium.

REEs are already used medically for the treatment of liver cancer, where yttrium-90 (Y-90) microspheres can be used, working on the basis that they emit beta radiation, which can damage and kill living cells. The advantage of this technique is that it allows for precision targeting of the tumour via the blood cells feeding it.

Currently this technique is only used for liver cancer. However it is in the nature of medical developments that there will be further research to enable such techniques to be used for other targeted treatments.

Copyright (c) 2012 Alison Withers

by: Alison Withers

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