"The watershed moment came in July when the federal government became the largest shareholder of MP Materials, a California miner of rare earth elements for the oft-overlooked but critical magnets that help connect the global economy. The government's unusual foray into private industry was accompanied by new rules setting minimum U.S. market prices for some of these materials-a pricing floor it said was necessary to protect MP Materials from Chinese competitors it accused of "dumping" their goods at artificially low prices."
""This is really a Manhattan Project-style effort with all-out intensity," MP Materials CEO James Litinsky told Fortune. MP is expanding its Mountain Pass mining, refining, and recycling in California and its new Texas magnet plant in this "Cold War 2.0." At issue are 60 natural elements deemed "critical minerals" by the U.S. government, including the 17 so-called rare earths as well as key materials used in batteries. America has zero production of over half of them."
The federal government became the largest shareholder of MP Materials in July and imposed minimum U.S. market prices for certain rare-earth materials to shield MP Materials from alleged Chinese dumping. The administration initiated a campaign to reduce China’s decades-long dominance of critical minerals that power magnets, batteries, and defense technologies. MP Materials is expanding mining, refining, and recycling at Mountain Pass and building a Texas magnet plant. Sixty elements are designated critical by the U.S.; over half have no U.S. production. Rare earths like neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium are abundant but technically difficult to extract and separate.
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