I could point out that it's China's problem, not ours. Which happens to be
true.

I find it hard to believe that "radioactivity [is] involved somewhere in the
process" of extracting neodymium -- unless neodymium is commonly mixed with
ores of radioactive material -- which it apparently isn't. According to
Wikipedia...

"Neodymium is not found naturally in metallic form or unaccompanied by other
lanthanides, and it is usually refined for general use. Although classed as
a "rare earth" it is no more rare than cobalt, nickel or copper, and is
widely distributed in the Earth's crust. The bulk of the world's neodymium
is presently [sic -- currently] mined in China."

If it isn't particularly rare, then one might assume other countries will
begin or increase their mining of it, now that China has put export controls
on it.

Wind power has the potential (sorry) for relatively cheap electricity, using
hardware that is easily replaced as it wears out.

A long-term solution to food and environmental problems would require a
"population implosion" -- an across-the-board reduction in population to
1/10 or even 1/20 the current level.

"There's... antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium..."


"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
A few weeks ago, there was a professor talking on a UK radio show, about
the
eco-credentials of the windmills that are springing up all over the UK in
an
effort to satisfy the goals for renewable power, that have been foisted on
us by Brussels. He enthused like an evangelical preacher about the
brilliant
efficiency of these machines which, he said, was due in no small part to
the
use of neodymium magnets in the generators. I understand that high power
neodymium magnets are also used in the motors for electric eco-cars. Fair
enough all round. However, in last Sunday's newspaper supplement, I read a
rather disturbing story about this material. 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. There is also radioactivity involved somewhere in the process.
Once
the neodymium has been extracted and processed, the highly acidic and
radioactive 'tailings' are dumped in a huge and highly toxic lake that is
now over 10 feet deep. Local people are getting sick and dying at an
alarming rate, and birth defects are common. The water supply and crops
are
being poisoned, and the whole affair is being talked of in terms of an
"ecological disaster".

So here we have another bit of western eco- think of dubious practicality
in
terms of the amount of power that can actually be realistically produced
this way, that's having a seriously negative ecological effect on the
other
side of the world. But I suppose all the eco-warriors and euro pen-pushers
that support this 'non-polluting' power generation technology, would
rather
that we didn't know about the wider implications ...


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/mosl...ous-scale.html

Arfa