The reason why iron, nickel and cobalt are used to create permanent magnets is because they are paramagnet. This means that when the materials are not magnetized, their electrons are in an unpaired spin. However, when the material is exposed to a magnetic field, the electrons spin in such a way that they spontaneously align. The iron, cobalt, and nickel already react to magnetic fields while they are in their natural ore state and need to processing to create that state. Some rare earth metals also have the same electron spin state when in their natural setting, such as dysprosium and gadolinium if they are at a low enough temperature. Some rare earth elements are also permanent magnetic substances as well. The rare earth materials used to create these magnets include Neodymium alloy, samarium-cobalt and other alloys made from the naturally occurring elements called yttrium, scandium, and all the lanthanide elements.