Purity is key

High purity separated rare earths are the key to growth in the rare earths industry, Roskill News reports in a recent bulletin.

“With prices up to one thousand times those of mixed rare earth compounds, and consumption by weight increasing from 4% to 10% of the total during the 1980s, high purity compounds are increasingly important,” the company writes.

The outlook for mixed rare earths, according to Roskill, is not favorable. Consumption of all rare earths in the United States was down by 40% in 1985, while demand in Japan increased.