| Occurrence and Production of Ytterbium |
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| Ytterbium is found with other rare earths elements in several rare minerals. It is most often recovered commercially from monazite sand (0.03% ytterbium). The element is also found in euxenite and xenotime. Ytterbium is normally difficult to separate from other rare earths but ion-exchange and solvent extraction techniques developed in the late 20th century have simplified separation. Known compounds of ytterbium are rare-they haven't been well characterized yet. |