MP Materials

Last updated

MP Materials Corp.
Company type Public
Industry
Founded2017;7 years ago (2017)
Founders
  • James Litinsky
  • Michael Rosenthal
Headquarters Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
James Litinsky
(Executive Chairman & CEO)
Michael Rosenthal
(COO)
Products Rare earth concentrates, [1] metals, [2] and neodymium magnets [3]
Production output
38,500 tonnes [4]  (2020)
OwnerJHL Capital Group, QVT Financial LP, James Litinsky, Shenghe Resources [5]
Number of employees
681 [6]  (2024 [7] )
Website mpmaterials.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Footnotes /references
[8] [9]
Mountain Pass mine, aerial view Mountain Pass Mine, California (ASTER).jpg
Mountain Pass mine, aerial view

MP Materials Corp. is an American rare-earth materials company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. MP Materials owns and operates the Mountain Pass mine, the only operating rare earth mine and processing facility in the United States. [10] The rare earth materials industry is dominated by China, which produces 60% of the world's rare earth elements and processes 90% of these materials, including imports from other countries. [11] MP Materials focuses its production on Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr), a rare earth material used in high-strength permanent magnets that power the traction motors found in electric vehicles, robotics, wind turbines, drones and other advanced motion technologies. [12] MP Materials is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "MP". As of December 2021, JHL Capital Group, QVT Financial and CEO James Litinsky were the company's three largest shareholders, with about 7.7% of the company owned by Shenghe Resources, a Chinese company partly owned by the country's Ministry of Natural Resources. [13]

Contents

History

In 2015, Molycorp, the previous owners of the Mountain Pass mine, filed for bankruptcy. At the time, it was the only U.S. producer of rare earth elements. [14] While in bankruptcy, Secure Natural Resources (SNR), a company owned by Molycorp's creditors, including JHL Capital Group, gained control of the mine's mineral rights. [15] In June 2017, the Mountain Pass mine was purchased at auction for $20.5 million by a new entity called MP Mine Operations LLC (MPMO). [16] MPMO was a consortium formed principally by JHL Capital Group, a Chicago-based investment firm led by James Litinsky, along with QVT Financial LP and Shenghe Resources. [17] Shenghe Resources held a minority, non-voting interest. [18] At the time, Mountain Pass was in a state of "care and maintenance" and had only eight employees according to Litinsky. [19]

Following the asset acquisitions and formation of the entities that became MP Materials, the company restarted operations at Mountain Pass. On July 15, 2020, the company announced a reverse takeover whereby MPMO and SNR would be merged with Fortress Value Acquisition Corporation to become a public company under the name MP Materials Corp. The transaction, which closed on November 17, 2020, raised $545 million. [20] On November 18, 2020, MP Materials began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MP".

In December 2021, MP Materials signed a long-term agreement with General Motors to provide neodymium-iron-boron magnets for use in GM's electric vehicle motors. [21] As part of the contract, MP Materials also agreed to provide alloy and finished magnets to GM for its electric vehicles [22] and to open a new factory located in Fort Worth, Texas to produce the magnets. [23]

As of December 2021, JHL Capital Group, QVT Financial, and CEO James Litinsky were the company's three largest shareholders, and about 7.7% of the company was owned by Shenghe Resources. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] Apart from institutions, other investors own 18%. [25]

MP Materials and Australia's Lynas held a confidential discussion regarding a potential merger which fell through on February 5, 2024. [29] Lynas is the second largest rare earth material company outside of China.

As of 2024, CEO James Litinsky was the company's largest shareholder. [30] Other large shareholders include Vanguard, Shenghe Resources, BlackRock and Hancock Prospecting. [30]

In April 2024, Hancock Prospecting, an Australian mining firm owned by Gina Rinehart, disclosed a 5.3% stake in MP Materials, comprising 8.8 million shares, and a 5.8% stake in Lynas. [31] [32]

Mountain Pass mine

Mountain Pass mine Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine & Processing Facility.jpg
Mountain Pass mine

Discovered in 1949 in San Bernardino County, California, Mountain Pass mine consists of a bastnäsite ore-body with significant concentrations of rare earth elements. [33] The mine once supplied most of the world's rare earth elements. [34] Mountain Pass is the only operational rare earth mining and processing facility in the United States. [10] The expected Mountain Pass mine life is approximately 24 years. [35]

MP Materials produced 28,000 tonnes of rare-earth oxide equivalent from Mountain Pass in 2019, and 38,500 tonnes in 2020, or more than 15% of global production. [4] As of late 2020, Shenghe Resources was the sole purchaser of MP Material's rare earth concentrate. [36] [37]

As of 2023, MP Materials had a three-stage plan for scaling its operations: [38]

As of 2023, stages II and III were underway and the company had begun production of refined rare earths. [39] [40] MP Materials signed a supply chain agreement with Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corporation in 2023. [41]

U.S. government contracts

In July 2020, the United States Department of Defense issued a preliminary contract to MP Materials intended to restore domestic heavy rare earth production and separation capabilities to the United States. [42] [43] In November 2020, the United States Department of Defense awarded MP Materials $9.6 million as part of a government effort to increase domestic production of rare earth materials. [44] [45]

On September 30 , 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting China's dominance of rare earth materials. In the executive order, he expressed concern for the heavy reliance of the US on China for 80 percent of rare earth materials. He reiterated the importance of producing and refining rare earth in the US and discussed various tariffs and government grants to rare earth material companies such as MP Materials. [46] [47] [48]

In 2021, MP Materials received $3 million in funding from the United States Department of Energy to design and study the feasibility of a system to produce rare earth oxides and metals from coal by-products in collaboration with the University of Kentucky. [17] [49]

In February 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced at a press conference that the United States Department of Defense was investing $35 million into MP Materials as part of an effort to spur domestic rare earth production in the United States. [50] [51] Biden said that this move was designed to reduce America's reliance on rare earth minerals imported from other countries. [52] [53] The Biden administration said the federal funding is earmarked to assist the company to develop a new commercial facility for “heavy” rare earth mineral processing. [51]

On May 24, 2024, the Biden Administration announced a 25 percent tariff on rare earth magnets from China, set to take effect in 2026. This marks the first time that critical minerals, including rare earth magnets, have been specifically included in the tariffs. [54] Following the tariffs MP Materials put out a statement listing the tariffs. After the announcement, CEO James Litinsky attended an event with Biden at the White House. [55]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rare-earth element</span> Any of the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium

The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids, are a set of 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft heavy metals. Compounds containing rare earths have diverse applications in electrical and electronic components, lasers, glass, magnetic materials, and industrial processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilmenite</span> Titanium-iron oxide mineral

Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula FeTiO
3
. It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing inks, fabrics, plastics, paper, sunscreen, food and cosmetics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rare-earth mineral</span> Mineral containing one or more rare-earth elements as major constituents

A rare-earth mineral contains one or more rare-earth elements as major metal constituents. Rare-earth minerals are usually found in association with alkaline to peralkaline igneous complexes in pegmatites. This would be associated with alkaline magmas or with carbonatite intrusives. Perovskite mineral phases are common hosts to rare-earth elements within the alkaline complexes. Minerals are the solid composer of inorganic substances. They are formed through the atomic movement of fluid which can be derived from evaporation, pressure or any physical change. They are mostly determined through their atomic weight. The minerals that are known as 'rare' earth minerals are considered rare due to their unique geochemical makeup and properties. These substances are not normally found in mining affiliated clusters. Thus an indication of these minerals being short in supply and allocated their title as 'rare' earth minerals. Many rare-earth minerals include rare-earth elements which thus hold the same significant purpose of rare-earth minerals. Earth's rare minerals have a wide range of purposes, including defense technologies and day-to-day uses. This would be associated with alkaline magmas or with carbonatite intrusives. Perovskite mineral phases are common hosts to rare-earth elements within the alkaline complexes. Mantle-derived carbonate melts are also carriers of the rare earths. Hydrothermal deposits associated with alkaline magmatism contain a variety of rare-earth minerals. Rare-earth minerals are usually found in association with alkaline to peralkaline igneous complexes in pegmatites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China Minmetals</span> Chinese metal and minerals company

China Minmetals Corporation is a Chinese metals and mineral trading company headquartered in Beijing. It is a state-owned corporation under direct supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). China Minmetals is engaged in the production and trading of metals and minerals, including copper, aluminum, tungsten, tin, antimony, lead, zinc, and nickel.

Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. is a Canadian mineral development company with a primary focus on the rare metals and minerals, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Avalon specializes in niche market of metals and minerals with growing demand in new technology. Avalon's principal assets are its Nechalacho Project, Separation Rapids, East Kemptville, Nova Scotia, Lilypad Cesium, and Warren Township (Ontario).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobalt</span> Chemical element with atomic number 27 (Co)

Cobalt is a chemical element; it has symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, somewhat brittle, gray metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuziah Salleh</span> Malaysian politician

Hajah Fuziah binti Salleh is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Costs of Living in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Ministers Salahuddin Ayub and Armizan Mohd Ali as well as Senator since December 2022. She served as the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of religious affairs in the PH administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and former Minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kuantan from March 2008 to November 2022. She is a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the PH coalition. She has also served as the Secretary-General of PKR since September 2024. She also served as the State Chairperson of PKR of Pahang from May 2024 to September 2024, Women Chief of PKR from July 2020 to July 2022 and Vice President of PKR from November 2010 to August 2014 as well as the State Chairperson of PH of Pahang from March 2019 to September 2022.

The Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility, owned by MP Materials, is an open-pit mine of rare-earth elements on the south flank of the Clark Mountain Range in California, 53 miles (85 km) southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2020 the mine supplied 15.8% of the world's rare-earth production. It is the only rare-earth mining and processing facility in the United States. It is the largest single known deposit of such minerals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Rare Earths</span> Government-owned corporation

IREL (India) Limited is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It specializes in mining and refining rare earth metals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kvanefjeld</span> Mine in Kujalleq, Greenland

Kvanefjeld, in Greenland, is the site of a mineral deposit, which is claimed to be the world's second-largest deposit of rare-earth oxides, and the sixth-largest deposit of uranium. There are also substantial sodium fluoride deposits, and Kvanefjeld is thought to be one of the largest multi-element deposits of its kind in the world.

Molycorp Inc. was an American mining corporation headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The corporation, which was formerly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, owned the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California. It filed for bankruptcy in June 2015 after changing competitive circumstances, declining prices on output and a 2014 restructuring. It was purchased by its largest creditor Oaktree Capital Management and was reorganized as Neo Performance Materials.

The rare earth industry in China is a large industry. Rare earths are a group of elements on the periodic table with similar properties. Rare earth metals are used to manufacture technologies including electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, consumer electronics and other clean energy technologies. Rare earth elements are also important to national governments because they are used in the defense industry. China has implemented export restrictions on certain rare earth elements and banned the export of rare earth processing technology. At present, China accounts for over 95 percent of the world's production of rare earths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynas</span> Australian rare-earths mining company

Lynas Rare Earths, Ltd. is an Australian rare-earths mining company with two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld in Western Australia, and the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Kuantan, Malaysia. The company was founded in the 1990s and is headquartered in Perth, Western Australia.

Energy Transition Minerals Ltd is an ASX-listed company focused on the exploration, development and financing of minerals that are critical to a low carbon future. The company’s current projects include the Kvanefjeld, located in Greenland, Villasrubias, located in Spain, and two Lithium projects located in the James Bay region in Canada.

American Elements is a global manufacturer and distributor of advanced materials with an over 35,000-page online product catalog and compendium of information on the chemical elements, advanced materials, and high technology applications. The company's headquarters and educational programs are based in Los Angeles, California. Its research and production facilities are located in Salt Lake City, Utah; Monterrey, Mexico;China; and Manchester, UK.

The rare earths trade dispute, between China on one side and several countries on the other, was over China's export restrictions on rare earth elements as well as tungsten and molybdenum. Rare earth metals are used to make powerful neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium magnets, defense products and many electronics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Round Top Mountain</span> Mountain in Texas, United States

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Since 2011 the European Commission has assessed every 3 years a list of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) for the EU economy within its Raw Materials Initiative. To date, 14 CRMs were identified in 2011, 20 in 2014, 27 in 2017 and 30 in 2020. These materials are mainly used in energy transition and digital technologies. Then in March 2023 Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the Critical Raw Materials Act, "for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the European Council establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials". At the time, Europe depended on China for 98% of its rare-earth needs, 97% of its lithium supply and 93% of its magnesium supply.

The electric vehicle supply chain comprises the mining and refining of raw materials and the manufacturing processes that produce batteries and other components for electric vehicles.

Shenghe Resources is a Chinese partly state-owned rare earths mining and processing company founded in 1998. The company is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and its largest shareholder is the Ministry of Natural Resources. Shenghe Resources is affiliated with Aluminum Corporation of China, which maintains a seat on its board and is involved its strategic decision-making.

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