New Rarities for Old?

In the case of rare earths, it doesn't seem to matter that the alternative is almost as costly, since the issue for industry is that demand for rare earth metals exceeds the supply. A rare earth clone at nearly equivalent cost would be profitable.

The researchers have indicated that commercial production may be difficult though: the particles of the palladium clone alloy produced experimentally are measured in nanometers. No rare earth clones have been made yet.

As for the palladium clone, it is made of silver (around $30 USD/ozt) and rhodium (over $2000/ozt). Palladium is running around $800/ozt, so whether the clone would be economically viable depends on the proportion of silver to rhodium in the alloy. If it is 50/50 then it is already not an economic product, without counting the cost of production.

If rare earth clones can be produced by this method, then it may be worth the cost of scaling up the method for industrial production. I'm not sure what is involved in "micro metal mist mingling" - does anyone have a link or a description of the machinery involved?