Iron-rich compounds with the tetragonal ThMn₁₂-type structure have the potential to meet current demands for rare-earth-lean permanent magnets with high energy density and operating temperatures of 150–200 ℃. However, while it is normal for magnet technology to lag behind the development of underlying magnetic material, this gap has always been unusually large for ThMn₁₂-type magnets. The gap has widened further in recent years, as excellent combinations of intrinsic magnetic properties have been obtained in compounds synthesized with a smaller amount of structure-stabilizing elements (e.g., SmFe₁₁V or Sm_0.8Zr_0.2Fe_9.2Co_2.3Ti_0.5) or with no such elements (i.e., SmFe_9.6Co_2.4 thin films). The search for promising compounds continues—with increasing help coming from theoretical calculations. Unfortunately, progress in the development of magnets beyond polymer-bonded interstitially modified powders remains marginal. The introduction of lanthanum (La) was found to stabilize low-meltingtemperature minority phases in Sm(Fe,Ti)₁₂ alloys, thus allowing for liquid-phase sintering for the first time. The high reactivity of La, however, has apparently undermined the development of coercivity (Hc). A controlled crystallization of the initially suppressed ThMn₁₂-type phase makes ″bulk″ magnetic hardening possible, not only in Sm-Fe-V alloys (in which it has been known since the 1990s), but also is in La-added (Ce,Sm)(Fe,Ti)₁₂ alloys. The properties of the bulk-hardened alloys, however, remain unsatisfactory. Mechanochemically synthesized (Sm,Zr)(Fe,Si)₁₂ and (Sm,Zr)(Fe,Co,Ti)₁₂ powders may become suitable for sintering into powerful fully dense magnets, although not before a higher degree of anisotropy in both alloys and a higher H_c in the latter alloy have been developed.