Neodymium is the second most abundant rare earth element in the Earth’s crust only after Cerium. Its applications are nowhere near as Cerium before Neodymium magnets came out and mainly served as non-ferrous metal additives and petroleum refinery catalyzers in the form of mixed rare earth metals at that time. The value of Neodymium has been multiplied since the advent of Neodymium magnets in 1982. Thereafter Neodymium oxide and Neodymium have emerged as a powerful motivator to drive the rapid development of rare earth industry.
Praseodymium and Neodymium lie adjacent each other in the periodic table, which atomic numbers 59 and 60, respectively. These two elements are chemically very similar and appear together in the bastnaesite ores from which they are extracted. There are obvious economic advantages to avoiding the separation of Praseodymium and Neodymium. In addition, the substitution of Praseodymium and Neodymium up to a certain level does not significantly impact the performance of Neodymium magnets made from this Praseodymium Neodymium mischmetal. The typical composition of Praseodymium Neodymium mischmetal includes 75% Neodymium and 25% Praseodymium. PrNd mischmetal accounted for the vast majority of raw material cost of Neodymium magnets, therefore, Praseodymium Neodymium mischmetal price trend has the decisive role the price movement of Neodymium magnets.
