During Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, US companies accompanying him announced a series of investment or cooperation plans in the country. In addition to numerous tech firms, there was also a US rare earth miner.
MP Materials, a US rare earth company, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia's flagship mining company, Ma’aden, to jointly develop a rare earth supply chain in the Kingdom.
The collaboration will encompass the mining, separation, refining of rare earth minerals, and magnet production.
"Today's announcement marks a significant first step towards rebalancing the global supply chain, at a time of transformative growth driven by emerging technologies, particularly robotics and physical AI, while also deepening the strategic alliance between the US and Saudi Arabia," said James Litinsky, CEO of MP Materials, in a press release.
The press release noted that rare earth magnets are indispensable components in key technology sectors such as transportation, energy, robotics, and aerospace. This collaboration will leverage Saudi Arabia's highly competitive energy base, world-class infrastructure, and strategic location to diversify and expand the global rare earth supply chain, thereby meeting the growing demand from rapidly expanding industries.
President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia proved to be highly fruitful, with Saudi Arabia pledging to invest at least $600 billion in the US in the future, covering energy, defense, and mining sectors. Additionally, multiple tech firms, including Nvidia, AMD, Google, and Oracle, announced cooperation with or investment and construction plans in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has been striving to become a significant global mineral hub, particularly for copper, nickel, and rare earth minerals, which are becoming essential for technology-focused economies. According to data from the Saudi Geological Survey, the country has proven rare earth reserves of approximately 3.2 million mt, accounting for 1.5% of the global total, but its smelting technology is virtually non-existent.
MP Materials is the owner of the only operational Mountain Pass rare earth mine in the US. Although it has the capacity to produce over 40,000 mt of rare earth concentrate annually, the smelting and processing of its minerals have long been carried out almost entirely in China.
The essence of the collaboration between the two parties lies in the complementary nature of resources and markets: Saudi Arabia provides funding, mineral development rights, and the advantage of being a regional hub, while MP Materials contributes its mine operation experience and some separation technologies, striving to establish a complete rare earth industry chain from raw materials to final products. However, building a complete rare earth industry chain is no easy feat and may take several years or even decades to fully realize.
Currently, China's rare earth industry chain holds an absolute leading position globally, with rare earth ore reserves exceeding 40 million mt, accounting for approximately 40% of the global total; its production of rare earth smelting and separation accounts for about 90% of the global output.
