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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

The treasure trove hidden in discarded computers:

Four years ago at the University of Birmingham, Prof Walton and his mentor, Prof Rex Harris, discovered that running hydrogen gas through old hard-disk drives turns the magnets into powder which can be harvested, re-packed and coated, to become new magnets.

Not only will the project offer a greener solution to the rare earths market, the global demand for these minerals means there is a business case to be built.

"We are missing a trick. There is no trouble finding rare earths, it's the processing them into a useful material, like a magnet," says Prof Walton.

This year, Hypromag expects to announce a deal with the UK car company Bentley.

It has received a £2.6m grant from Innovate UK and a half a million pounds of investment and further partnership from an African junior mine, Mkango.

However, the Hypromag solution will only meet a fraction of the growing demand for rare earths, which analysts estimate will double by 2025.

Prof Walton believes that if Britain acts now and creates a scaled-up rare earths recycling industry, it could become a world leader.

The opportunity is huge, with many emerging technologies such as 5G demanding rare earths, on top of the growing need for established technologies such as phone handsets, microprocessors and wind turbines.

However, the main reason rare earths have been compared to oil, is government policies that will fuel the demand for electric vehicles.

Original Submission