# MP Materials
> The only active US rare earth miner, MP Materials controls Mountain Pass in California and is building the first US NdFeB magnet supply chain, backed by a 2025 Pentagon equity stake.

**Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads:  · 4 takes · 2 lenses · 1 regions

## What it is

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) is a US rare earth mining and materials company, and the sole operator of an active rare earth mine in the United States. Its Mountain Pass Mine, in San Bernardino County, California, produces rare earth oxide concentrate rich in neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), the feedstock for neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets used in electric motors, wind turbines, and precision-guided weapons. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was founded by James Litinsky, who serves as chairman and CEO. MP went public via SPAC merger in November 2020.

## History

Mountain Pass was the world's dominant rare earth supplier through the 1960s and 1980s, operated by Molycorp. Chinese production at lower cost drove prices down sharply, and Molycorp filed for US Bankruptcy Court protection in 2015. Litinsky's group acquired the Mountain Pass asset out of bankruptcy in July 2017 and restarted mining and processing in January 2018. Through 2024, roughly 80% of MP Materials' revenue came from selling rare earth concentrate to China's Shenghe Resources, which processed it into magnets, reflecting a persistent gap in US downstream capacity. That model collapsed in 2025 when China imposed export controls and tariffs on rare earths, and Beijing added MP Materials to its Ministry of Commerce blacklist in June 2025, as detailed in [中国将MP材料和美国稀土列入黑名单，随后扩大管控体系](/zh/n/china-rare-earth-controls).

## Current state

MP halted all shipments to China after the June 2025 blacklisting and accelerated domestic processing. As of Q1 2026, Mountain Pass produced 12,983 metric tons of rare earth oxide, up 6% year on year. NdPr output reached a record 917 metric tons, up 63% year on year, reflecting a deliberate shift toward higher-value separated products.

On the downstream side, the Fort Worth, Texas "Independence" facility, the first integrated rare earth metal-to-magnet plant built in the US in a generation, commenced commercial NdFeB magnet manufacturing in December 2025. Its output supplies General Motors under a long-term agreement.

The US Department of Defense signed a partnership on July 10, 2025, documented in [MP Materials在得州开始生产NdFeB磁体，美国防部成最大股东](/zh/n/mp-materials-magnet-ramp). The DoD acquired approximately 15% of common stock through US$400 million in convertible preferred stock at US$30.03 per share, becoming the company's largest shareholder. The DoD also committed a US$110 per kilogram price floor for NdPr over 10 years and agreed to purchase 100% of output from a planned 10,000-metric-ton "10X" magnet campus. The 10X facility, announced February 26, 2026, will be built on a 120-acre site in Northlake, Texas, less than 10 miles from Independence; Texas offered approximately US$200 million in state and local incentives. Commissioning is set for 2028, creating more than 1,500 direct jobs. MP Materials also signed a US$500 million supply and recycling agreement with Apple in 2025.

## Relationships

MP Materials is structurally upstream of the US defence and EV sectors: no domestic NdFeB magnet supply chain exists without Mountain Pass ore. The DoD price floor mechanism became a template for allied minerals programs tracked in [美国将国防部式最低价格扩展至盟友，“金库计划”与G7储备承诺重塑西方矿产政策工具](/zh/n/us-minerals-price-floor-allies), including floors negotiated with Japan and the EU by February 2026. MP competes with Australia's Lynas Rare Earths, which operates a US government-funded heavy rare earth processing facility under development in Texas. China's Shenghe Resources, once the primary offtake buyer, is now an adversarial reference point. A US$150 million DoD loan is financing heavy rare earth separation expansion at Mountain Pass, targeting reduced dependence on China for dysprosium and terbium.

## What to watch

- Whether the 10X Northlake campus achieves its 2028 commissioning target on schedule, given the scale of capital deployment over a compressed timeline.
- NdPr spot pricing relative to the US$110/kg DoD floor; commercial viability for non-government buyers depends on that gap narrowing.
- China's export licensing regime, in force since July 1, 2025 under China's MOFCOM Announcement No. 26, which can restrict oxide and metal exports regardless of who holds the mine.
- Heavy rare earth output at Mountain Pass: dysprosium and terbium remain almost entirely China-sourced for the US defence supply chain, and the separation expansion is the key watch item into 2027.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### official record
- **MP Materials Corp (press release, DoD partnership announcement)** (United States, en) — July 10, 2025 announcement: US DoD acquires 15% stake via $400M convertible preferred, commits $110/kg NdPr price floor for 10 years and 100% offtake from the planned 10X magnet campus.
  Source: https://mpmaterials.com/news/mp-materials-announces-transformational-public-private-partnership-with-the-department-of-defense-to-accelerate-u-s-rare-earth-magnet-independence/
- **MP Materials Corp (investor news, Northlake 10X facility)** (United States, en) — February 26, 2026: MP selects Northlake, Texas, for $1.25B magnet campus targeting 10,000 MT NdFeB annual capacity, commissioning 2028, 1,500+ jobs, with ~$200M in Texas incentives.
  Source: https://investors.mpmaterials.com/investor-news/news-details/2026/MP-Materials-Selects-Northlake-Texas-as-the-Site-of-10X-a-New-U-S--Rare-Earth-Magnet-Manufacturing-Campus/default.aspx
- **MP Materials Corp (SEC Form 8-K, Q1 2026 Earnings)** (United States, en) — Q1 2026 earnings filing: Mountain Pass produced 12,983 MT rare earth oxide, up 6% year on year; NdPr output hit a record 917 MT, up 63% year on year. Fort Worth Independence facility began commercial magnet sales in December 2025.
  Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001801368/000180136826000027/mpmcq12026er.htm

### business
- **Fortune (profile)** (United States, en) — August 2025 Fortune profile covering the Apple US$500M deal, the Pentagon stake, and MP Materials' pivot away from Chinese offtake after China imposed rare earth export controls in 2025.
  Source: https://fortune.com/2025/08/12/rare-earths-magnets-mp-materials-stock-surge-landmark-deals-trump-apple/

## Across the graph
- Related: [[china-rare-earth-controls]], [[mp-materials-magnet-ramp]], [[us-minerals-price-floor-allies]]
- Entities: Corporate:mp Materials, Commodity:rare Earth Magnets, Commodity:neodymium, United States, China

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