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Rare-earth recycling needs market intervention

Nature Reviews Materials volume 6, pages 459–461 (2021)Cite this article

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Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets are essential for the transition to clean energy and mobility. Given the burgeoning demand for neodymium and other rare earths, we discuss the role of recycling and the need for government intervention in securing a sustainable rare-earth supply.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SOLVOMET group, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen Binnemans & Peter Tom Jones

  2. Institute of Metals and Technology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Paul McGuiness

Authors
  1. Koen Binnemans
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  2. Paul McGuiness
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  3. Peter Tom Jones
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The authors contributed equally to all aspects of the article.

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Correspondence to Koen Binnemans.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Related links

China has only 37% of the world’s total REE reserves: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/mineral-commodity-summaries

EU-funded Horizon 2020 SUSMAGPRO project: https://www.susmagpro.eu/

European Raw Materials Alliance: https://erma.eu/

Important projects of common European interest: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XC0620(01)&from=EN

The USA announced in February 2021: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202102/1214738.shtml

The USA is taking measures to try to reduce its reliance on Chinese raw materials: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-rareearths-lynas-corp-idUSKBN29Q30O

This group of metals is considered the most critical of raw materials: https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/42849

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Binnemans, K., McGuiness, P. & Jones, P.T. Rare-earth recycling needs market intervention. Nat Rev Mater 6, 459–461 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00308-w

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