MP Materials Corp.

What they make

12 inputs MP Materials Corp. supplies

Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.

Where they make it

6 facilities

Intelligence

What's known

Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.

• Chokepoint2020

  MP Materials operates Mountain Pass — the only active rare earth mine in the Western Hemisphere — yet ships most of its neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide concentrate to China for processing into NdFeB alloy and magnets, because no commercial-scale US downstream rare earth processing exists. The US government has spent ~$1B+ to rebuild domestic rare earth supply chains, but the refining, alloying, and magnet manufacturing steps remain overwhelmingly Chinese as of 2024.

  U.S. Department of Energy ↗

• Did you know2025

  For years after its 2017 refounding, MP Materials operated with a fundamental contradiction: it was publicly described as the 'only US rare earth mine' and the cornerstone of US rare earth supply chain independence — yet it shipped its ore concentrate directly to Shenghe Resources, a Chinese state-linked company and significant MP investor, for separation processing in China. The 'US rare earth supply chain' was thus: mine in California → ship to China → process in China → ship refined materials back to the world. This arrangement made Mountain Pass more of a Chinese supply chain input than a US supply chain asset. The DoD's July 2025 equity investment and the displacement of Shenghe formally ended this arrangement, marking the first time US rare earth ore produced at Mountain Pass is being processed entirely within the Western Hemisphere.

  MP Materials Corp. ↗

• Incident2024

  MP Materials' Mountain Pass mine in California produces ~15,000 MT/yr of rare earth oxide concentrate — but as of 2024, most of it is still shipped to China for separation and magnet manufacturing. The mine's own separation circuit (built 2021–23) is only partially operational. MP is building a magnet plant in Fort Worth, TX with a GM offtake agreement, but the US domestic rare-earth-to-magnet supply chain will not be self-sufficient until the late 2020s at the earliest.

  MP Materials Corp. ↗

• Origin2024

  Mountain Pass, California has been the US rare earth mine since bastnasite deposits were discovered there in 1949. It was the world's dominant rare earth supply source in the 1980s-1990s — responsible for much of global rare earth supply before Chinese producers undercut prices. Molycorp acquired Mountain Pass and attempted to revive it, but went bankrupt in 2015 as Chinese rare earth prices made the mine uneconomic. MP Materials (refounded 2017) acquired the mine from bankruptcy and has been rebuilding its production and processing capabilities under the strategic umbrella of US-China rare earth competition. In July 2025, the US Department of Defense became a direct equity shareholder in MP Materials — the first time DoD has taken an equity position in a US mining company — displacing the Chinese state-linked investor Shenghe Resources.

  MP Materials Corp. ↗

• Capacity2023

  MP Materials' Fort Worth, Texas magnet factory is the first commercial-scale NdFeB permanent magnet manufacturing facility in the United States in decades. NdFeB magnets are essential for EV motors, wind turbine generators, defense systems (guided missiles, drones, F-35 actuators), and industrial equipment. The US has been entirely dependent on China for NdFeB magnets (China controls ~90% of global NdFeB production). The Fort Worth plant — with DoD backing of >$400M and General Motors as anchor customer — represents the first meaningful step toward US magnet supply independence, though at ~1,000 MT/year it remains a fraction of the ~200,000+ MT/year global supply needed.

  MP Materials Corp. ↗