Ａ dry process for recovery of rare metals from sludges of Sm2Co17， Nd2Fe14B and LaNi5 intermetalic compounds was investigated using a chemical vapor transport along temperature gadients. Aluminium chloride was used as a transporting agent and the rare metal chlorides were chemically transported as vapor complexes，e.g．LnA1nCl3+3n(Ln=rare earths)，MAlnCl2+3n(M=Co，Ni). Rare earth chlorides were concentrated in the deposits in higher temperature zones (800‐900℃) while cobalt and nickel chlorides were in lower temperature zones (500‐700℃)．Each purity of recovered chlorides was more than 99％．Chlorides of other metals，such as iron，copper, zirconium，and aluminium，were condensed at the outlet of reactor (< 350 ℃) without any contamination for the recoveries．After the transport reaction for 6 hours，yields of nickel and cobalt were more than 99％，whereas those of lanthanum，samarium，neodymium and dysprosium were lower，i.e. 27，39，59，and 68％ due to relatively slow formation rate of LnA1nCl3+3n complexes.