Rare Earth

Written by: MA Wai-man


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Recently, there are many news report of "Rare Earth". What actually is Rare Earth?



In fact, "Rare Earth" is a collection of seventeen chemical elements. They are: Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy), Holmium (Ho), Erbium (Er), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb), Lutetium (Lu), Scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y). They are hidden in the Earth's ore deposits. With the exception of the radioactive promethium, rare earth elements are relatively plentiful in the Earth's crust. However, because of their special chemical properties, mining and extraction of rare earth elements is complex. A large scale production of these metals was uncommon in the past and so they are collectively referred as "Rare Earth".



Rare earth are important components in many appliances, such as electronic products with magnets and/or lasers, computer memories, glass, camera lenses, batteries, fluorescent lamps etc. One of them, Gadolinium, is being used as the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast agent for medical diagnosis purpose. After injection, Gadolinium in the contrast agent will accumulate in the abnormal tissues of the body, resulting in a greater contrast between normal and abnormal tissues. This facilitates doctors to better locate the irregular cells and tumors.



The technology employed for mining and extracting rare earth is relatively mature in China. The ores are mainly located in and around Inner Mongolia. Around 97% of the rare earth metals are now produced by China.







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I added it after being asked about RARE EARTH by WADAu often.
 
CREDIT to : MA Wai-man

Prawns in coconut/Cookbook from Taste of Tanzania Coming Soon!

Dear Friends,

Prawns in coconut sauce/ Kamba wa nazi is now uploaded on Taste of Tanzania website.

To see, just click the "Visit My Site" button in this email. Or copy and paste on your address bar http://tasteoftanzania.com/blog/2012/01/15/prawn-in-coconut-sauce-kamba-wa-nazi

Halafu :

Coming soon! Cookbook from Taste of Tanzania

Dear friends and family,

I'm excited to update you about the cookbook from Taste of Tanzania website.





I am starting self marketing early in advance. I pray this will be a year for Taste of Tanzania and Tanzania in General. I am determined to make sure this book reaches many countries, but first I need my fellow Tanzanians and Africans.

To see, just click the "Visit My Site" button in this email. Or copy and paste on your address bar http://tasteoftanzania.com/blog/2012/01/06/coming-soon-cookbook-from-taste-of-tanzania/

Mingi Love,

Miriam Rose
With TasteofTanzania.com