ARNOLD

MAGNETI C TECHNOLOGI ES


April 2011


RECOMA

Samarium Cobalt magnets, the solution to the rare earth crisis?

Arnolds solution to the rare earth crisis is a mine to magnets supply chain for our
RECOMA Samarium Cobalt magnets. We manufacture SmCo in our Lupfig,
Switzerland, Rochester, NY, and China facilities making us the only true global producer
of these magnets. With our continued development we are now able to sell SmCo grades
18 through 32. This is in addition to our worldwide design and manufacturing of high
performance magnets and precision magnetic assemblies.

A short course on rare earths.

While rare earths are not necessarily rare, it is unusual to find them in concentrations that
are economically feasible to mine and separate. The seventeen rare earths occur together
in varying concentrations from cerium at 39%, neodymium at 17%, samarium at 2%, and
dysprosium at 1% on average
(1)
.

In a neodymium iron boron magnet, such as used in hybrid cars or wind turbines, the
magnet contains about 30% neodymium and 5% dysprosium. As noted above, if on
average only 1% of the rare earth reserves are dysprosium this element quickly becomes
the bottleneck to neo magnet production. Most of the recent media reports seem to have
overlooked this fact. They also have disregarded the fact that the new mines coming on
line in the next year or two have well less than 1% concentrations of dysprosium. So
while the western world may soon be mining neodymium, it has an imbalance or is short
of dysprosium. Finding other meaningful supplies of dysprosium that can be mined and
processed could take nearly three to ten years.

So what is a consumer of magnets or designer of magnetic systems to do?

The best short term answer would be to use samarium cobalt magnets. There is
currently more samarium mined than consumed in the production of these magnets.
Our estimate is that the market for SmCo magnets is $200M today however, annual
production of samarium of 2,666 metric tonnes would produce approximately $600M in
magnets, therefore creating an excess of material. The increases in mining between now
and 2015 should supply enough samarium to produce $1,000M in magnets.

The other main ingredient, cobalt, is not projected to have any supply issues. This also
positions SmCo magnets to be the material of choice for a wider range of applications.

Please contact us at RECOMA@arnoldmagnetics.com with any questions you may have
regarding rare earths or if you are considering RECOMA SmCo for your design. We will
be happy to help you and supply samples if needed.

NOTES
1.
Fromthe U.S. Department of Energy Critical Materials Strategy Report, December 2010.

www.arnoldmagnetics.com
See graph on reverse side.




















www.arnoldmagnetics.com
ARNOLD


MAGNETI C TECHNOLOGI ES
The graph below shows one of the more common neodymium-iron-boron magnet
grades (L-38UHT) in comparison to a samarium cobalt 30S magnet grade and illustrates
that the magnets are at energy parity at 150
o
C and SmCo is stronger above 150
o
C!
































Energy Product versus
Temperature
20
25
30
35
40
0 50 100 150 200
Temperature, C
E
n
e
r
g
y

P
r
o
d
u
c
t
,

M
G
O
e
SmCo 30S L-38UHT



Arnold Magnetic Technologies is a global leader in magnet
assemblies with facilities in the United St a.


Permanent Magnets
manufacturing and precision
ates, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Chin

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RECOMA

Samarium Cobalt Magnets: The solution to the rare earth crisis?

www.arnoldmagnetics.com