Worldwide consumption of gadolinium has been growing rapidly over the last decade. According to one study, in France alone an estimated three tons of this metal is peed out every year from MRI scanning patients. A solution made from this metal enhances the contrast given this element’s unique magnetic properties and over a gram is used in every injection given. Although gadolinium is evidently harmless in the human body - at least as administered for this purpose - the study questions whether the combined effluent might be doing any harm to the environment.

With such rapid growth in medicine, and similar growth elsewhere in other industries, the business in this metal seems to spell a rosy future for gadolinium.

Please note these gadolinium bars weigh in at 30.5g each which is just shy of a full Troy ounce.