j_sum1
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Found: a little bit of Dy.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-11-30/rare-earth-mine...
I don't think this is likely ro be a game-changer for anything. But it always interesting when these kinds of discoveries are made.
Aus has pretty rich minerology.
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pantone159
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Why would there be just Dy there, and not the other lanthanides also? And would there be the same issues with Th as part of the ore making the
byproducts nasty?
But yes, interesting!
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j_sum1
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Dunno. News articles are notoriously bad at giving all the details and doing it accurately. When I get a chance I will try to find out more.
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MrHomeScientist
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It's likely dysprosium was singled out because of excitement about a particular application, or that it's in an unusually high concentration there.
The lanthanides are always found mixed together, and separation is quite difficult. Plus they say dysprosium, but clearly they didn't find chunks of
the metal; they're talking about an ore (monazite?).
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Bezaleel
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Sound as if all the REs are present, but current focus seems to be on Dy, since "Dy magnets also keep their magnetism at high temperatures". Maybe
it's even relatively Dy-rich, due to some geological circumstances. Who knows.
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