MP Materials Corp. (new York Stock Exchange: MP) announced today that it will build its initial rare earth (RE) metal, alloy and magnet production facility in Fort worth, Texas. The company also announced that it has signed a binding long-term agreement with General Motors (NYSE: GM)) to supply rare earth materials, alloys and finished magnets procured and manufactured in the United States for electric motors in more than a dozen models using GM's Ultium platform, and will gradually expand production from 2023.
At Fort worth, MP Materials will develop a 200000 square foot greenfield metal, alloy and NdFeB (NdFeB) magnet production facility, which will also become the business and engineering headquarters of its growing magnetism division, MP Magnetics. The plant, which will create more than 100 technical jobs, is located in the AllianceTexas development project owned and operated by Perot's Hilwood Corporation.
MP's initial magnetic facility will be able to produce about 1000 tons of finished NdFeB magnets per year, with the potential to power about 500000 electric vehicle motors per year. The production of NdFeB alloys and magnets will also support other key markets, including clean energy, electronics and defense technologies. The plant will also provide NdFeB alloy sheets to other magnet manufacturers to help develop a diversified and flexible US magnet supply chain.
"MP Materials has built an excellent magnetic team and important business relationships that will accelerate our mission to restore the complete rare earth supply chain in the United States," said James Litinsky, chairman and CEO of MP Materials. "this is an important moment for reshaping the supply chain in the United States, and we thank GM for its confidence, commitment and leadership."
NdFeB magnets are very important to modern science and technology.
NdFeB permanent magnets are key inputs for electric vehicles, robots, wind turbines, drones, defense systems and other technologies that convert electricity into motion and motors and generators that convert motion into electricity. Although the development of permanent magnets originated in the United States, there is little ability to produce sintered NdFeB magnets in the United States today.
Like semiconductors, with the popularity of computers and software, it is associated with almost every aspect of life. NdFeB magnets are a basic part of modern technology, and with the electrification and decarbonization of the global economy, its importance will continue to grow. Adamas Intelligence, an independent research firm, expects global demand for NdFeB to double by 2030, mainly driven by increased production of electric vehicles.
Expand the production scale of domestic renewable energy magnets to support the electric vehicle revolution
The scale of MP Materials' original Fort worth metal and magnet facilities was carefully thought out in order to achieve a commercial economy on a minimum required scale. This cautious approach will enable MP Materials to refine its production processes and technologies and apply the knowledge learned to more facilities in the future.
MP Materials's Fort worth facility will consume less than 10% of the 6075 tons of neodymium oxide that MP Materials expects to produce at Mountain Pass each year. The company envisions building more alloy and magnet capacity in the future to consume a larger proportion of primary products and to meet growing demand in the United States.
Environmental Sustainability and Recycling
MP Materials' operations in California and Texas will provide reliable sources and sustainability. Mountain Pass is a closed-cycle, zero-discharge renewable energy production facility that uses a dry tailings process to recover more than 1 billion litres of water per year. The operation of the facility is in full compliance with the environmental regulations of the United States and California.
The vertically integrated nature of MP's operations also provides flexibility to optimize recovery paths using the first principle approach. Waste generated during the production of alloys and magnets will be recycled. Scrapped magnets can also be reprocessed into high-purity oxides of separated renewable energy in Mountain Pass. The recovered oxides can then be extracted into metals and reproduced into high-performance magnets. MP's vertically integrated operations also allow the development of more new recycling approaches to shorten these traditional methods. The company is currently working with important business entities to develop the concept of scrapped recycling.
MP Materials Inc. (: MP) on the New York Stock Exchange is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. The company owns and operates Mountain Pass rare earth mines and processing facilities (Mountain Pass), the only large-scale rare earth mining and processing site in North America. In 2020, MP Materials produced about 15 per cent of the global market consumption of rare earths. The separated rare earth elements are a key input to magnets, making it possible to move electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines, robots and many other high-growth advanced technologies.
