Hey Joseph Leo, Have you tried the Magnesium process refining? Molten magnesium leeches the neodymium from the HDD magnets by amalgamation. The the "alloy" is refined further either chemically or it is sold as is (At about 38% neodymium) directly to refiners. This is probably the only way you can seperate out the neodymium from the iron and boron. If you attempt to do this chemically it would be cost prohibitive, hope that helps.
Try it with a heat treating oven first, your best bet is to acid wash the material you intend to process (the magnets) and immediately subject it to the molten magnesium, also be careful to use only an electric oven, magnesium can burn. Any way you look at it, you have a huge gap in process cost vs. mine derived materials (about $51/lb last time I looked).
The speed of the process could be increased exponentially by heating the magnets and grinding or chipping, they lose nearly all their magnetism when heated. The iron containing boron can then be resold for casting...it has it's own redeeming properties.
Bookmarks