On Fri, 4 Feb 2011 02:20:13 -0000, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

Apparently, almost all 'rare
earth' metals are mined and processed in China. Since the boom in wind
turbines and electric cars started, the demand for neodymium has gone sky
high. The only problem is that extracting it from the ground and other
metals that it co-exists with, involves the use of very concentrated acids
which are pumped into the ground, as well as being used in the refinement
process.

China seems to be making its own problems:

"Concern as China clamps down on rare earth exports"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/concern-as-china-clamps-down-on-rare-earth-exports-1855387.html
The article is about a year old, but the situation hasn't changed
much. Allegedly, it's because China wants to control the mining
pollution:
http://resourceinvestingnews.com/11967-the-future-of-critical-metals.html

In the US, the congress critters are worried and are pushing for a
renewal of domestic production (which was curtailed due to
environmental concerns).
http://rareearthinvestingnews.com/934/neodymium%E2%80%99s-strategic-importance-gets-traction-with-us-congress/

Incidentally, the radioactivity is from the other minerals mixed in
with the Neodymium, and not in anything used during processing.

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