Drilling through a magnet?

[nighterfighter]

About 2 weeks ago, our team was bored, and while sitting around, we found a really old radio. We proceeded to void the warranty (giggle giggle) and fiddle with it.

We took out some of the things (and it still worked, weird) but when we ran out of things to take out, we went for the speaker.

We got the magnet and its housing out, and then I attempted to drill through it.
Eventually I got the magnet out of the casing, so now I have JUST the magnet itself...

We want to drill a hole through the middle of it, but it is causing us trouble.
Long story short, we now have 2 melted drill bits and a hole-free magnet.

When I use our drill press on the magnet, the bit just spins itself around, but doesn't actually drill through it. The drill press is set to be around 700 RPM, but to no avail.

I thought that if I can just make a small hole to start with it will be easier, but even when pushing it through the bandsaw, it BARLEY scratches the surface of the magnet...

Any ideas?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the magnet is a cyclinder, about 1 inch in circumfrence, and about 1 inch in length.