Samarium from Samarium Cobalt Magnets

Step 1: Dissolving the Magnet
MrHomeScientist has been doing a fabulous job of trying to extract Neodymium from Nd₂Fe₁₄B Magnets Now the other rare earth magnets someone could obtain is Samarium-Cobalt Magnets (SmCo₅) so ive thought why not try extract Sm from it. Now i wont have the same methods as he used but ill try my best with getting a good product. My first Step would be obtaining the SmCo₅ magnets. I dont know where i obtained these magnets, i just happened to have a few random magnets so i started testing magnets. I started off with 40mls of HCl, i then added a magnet. No reaction occurred, i then switched it with another magnet and it started to react forming a blue solution. After a day the solution was a deep blue colour. It looks like only a small bit has actually dissolved, heating it will drive the reaction to completion. The fumes coming off are a bit corrosive, i tested this out by placing some aluminum foil over the beaker, the next morning there was a giant hole int he foil

  SmCo₅ + 12 HCl → SmCl₂ + 5 CoCl₂ + 6 H₂

Size of the magnet

The Solution after 1 day

Corrosive fumes from reaction which
is most likely HCl fumes

Update: 05/11/2011 - after about 4 days, it is still dissolving and its gone from deep blue to a deep bluish purple, probably because its a concentrated colour
              06/11/2011 - Fizzing stopped but magnet was still there, the 40ml solution went down to 35mls so i added 15 more mls of HCl

Question: How do we know if the colour is from cobalt?
Answer: Placed 0.5mls in a beaker and added 1ml of water, solution went from blue to red... Cobalt chloride in acetic conditions is blue while when its in water conditions it turns red