Occurrence and Production of Neodymium |
Occurrence |
Neodymium is never found in nature as the free element; rather, it occurs in ores such as monazite sand ((Ce,La,Th,Nd,Y)PO4) and bastnasite ((Ce,La,Th,Nd,Y)(CO3)F) that contain small amounts of all the rare earths metals. Neodymium can also be found in Misch metal; it is difficult to separate it from other rare earth elements. |