Scrapping the hard drives for their magnets was something that was talked about here ... a number of years back. A few buyers tossed their hat in the ring but it never seemed to go anywhere. It would have cost more to ship than what the buyers were offering to pay.
The rare earths come up every so often. The Chinese control most of the rare earth resources. People get nervous when there's talk about war or tariffs because it might shut off the flow of these materials to the high tech manufacturers here in the United States. Speculators want to jump in because there's money to be made in a crisis. The main problem with the magnets is that they haven't worked out a way to recycle them just yet. Another problem is that hard drives are all but obsolete technology now. They aren't a commonly available to scrap as they were ten years ago.
If you're really interested in the Neodymium magnets .... look at the windmills that have reached the end of their useful service life. A hard drive
magnet is pretty small. Windmill magnets run in the hundreds or thousands of pounds. The future looks a lot brighter in this sector as nations all over the world are looking for ways to shift over to green energy. There's quite a demand for solar & wind these days. Part n parcel with these are enormous battery storage systems that can power a small city for awhile when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing.
Anyhow ... it really doesn't answer your question about dealing with the companies you listed. It's just that to me ... it never seemed worth doing for different reasons. I've got about 30 lbs of the hard drive magnets on a shelf in the shop that have just been sitting there staring at me for the last seven years.
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