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How China developed its grip on neodymium mining The demand for these products is increasing quite significantly," he added. "So as these markets have been really growing quite significantly, there's a huge kind of transition towards green technologies, electric vehicles, renewable energy generation. So any electric motor, which uses a permanent magnet, and also the generators for, say, wind turbines, as well," Merriman told NPR over the phone from the United Kingdom. "The main growth areas for the use of the is within the motors for electric vehicles. They're running up against two problems: China's stranglehold on the rare-earth element used to make these magnets and the high demand these materials garner from electric vehicle makers and other green technology companies. It's all over the world, but very specifically, definitely here in the U.S."īut the growth of these small businesses and the popularity of magnet fishing have become murky lately. And magnet fishing happened to be one of those things. "It became a really popular hobby with people looking for ways to get outside to do something that was different. "Little did we know that COVID was starting a few months after and it actually kind of worked out perfectly," Dunlap told NPR over the phone. Joshua Dunlap, of northern California, is one such entrepreneur who started Centurion Magnetics in January 2020. The hobby, which involves people throwing powerful magnets into waterways in search of treasure and trash, became an excuse for some to get fresh air and for others to start businesses catering to these hobbyists.
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since the hobby spiked in popularity following the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.
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They are among many who picked up the hobby during the pandemic.Ī World War I-era warhead and a dead blacktip shark attached to a metal hook are just some of the things magnet fishers have retrieved around the U.S. Brothers Jake and Adam Cowart show off a magnet fishing haul.