MP Materials owns and operates Mountain Pass,
the only Rare Earth mining and processing site in North America

1865 The Clark Mining District is organized, named after Senator William A. Clark, the "Copper King" of Montana
1870-1895 Gold, Silver, Copper, Zinc, Lead, and Antimony prospecting and mining
1949 The Mountain Pass deposit, including the Birthday Claims and Sulphide Queen carbonatite, is discovered
1952 Molybdenum Corporation of America begins rare earth production at Mountain Pass after purchasing the recently discovered claims
1960s Production greatly expands at Mountain Pass to supply Europium, used to produce the red tint in color televisions
1965-1995 Known as the “Mountain Pass Era” — Mountain Pass produces the significant majority of global rare earth materials
1997 Unocal acquires Mountain Pass
2002 Unocal suspends mining
2005 Chevron acquires Unocal
2008 Mountain Pass is acquired by an investor group
2010 Project Phoenix—a >$1.5Bn investment and modernization program—begins at Mountain Pass
2015 Mountain Pass is idled; investment manager JHL Capital Group acquires a controlling position in the Mountain Pass estate
2017 MP Materials is created by JHL and QVT Financial to acquire Mountain Pass and restore it as one of the premier global materials operations
Q4 2017 Mining operations are restarted at Mountain Pass
2018 First sales of rare earth concentrate
2019 MP Materials achieves run-rate production of >30,000 metric tons of REO in concentrate, or ~15% of the global market
End of 2020 Downstream processing and separations facilities to restart; first NdPr oxide sales

Our Story

Rare earths power the modern economy. They are essential components in a wide range of industrial, clean energy and information technology applications.

Mountain Pass’s bastnaesite ore is one of the world’s highest quality rare earth deposits with a greater than 8% average grade. The mine started production in 1952, and was a dominant source of rare earth minerals in the world into the 1990s. More recently, Chinese rare earth production has grown to account for more than 80% of the global supply, and rare earth mining and processing stopped in the United States.

Affiliates of two U.S. investment advisors, JHL Capital Group LLC and QVT Financial LP, acquired Mountain Pass in July of 2017 with the goal of reviving America’s rare earth industry. Leshan Shenghe Rare Earth Co. Ltd., a Shanghai-listed rare earth operator, has served as a technical advisor on Mountain Pass’s relaunch and holds a non-voting minority interest in the company.

MP Materials has re-emerged as a best-in-class, globally competitive rare earths producer. Today, we produce approximately 15% of the global supply of rare earths, currently in the form of an intermediate product—rare earth concentrate—that requires further processing in Asia. Following an ongoing modernization program to be completed by year-end 2020, MP Materials will relaunch its onsite processing facilities, forming the basis for a renewed, self-sufficient U.S. rare earth industry.

Leadership

Mr. Rosenthal was appointed Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MP Materials in 2019, after joining as interim Executive Vice President in 2017. He is a Managing Director of QVT Financial LP, an alternative investment management firm. He concentrated on global equities, distressed debt and special situations with a focus on the global automotive sector and on China. Prior to joining QVT Financial LP, he worked as a senior high yield credit analyst for Shenkman Capital Management. He is fluent in Chinese. Mr. Rosenthal graduated from Duke University with an A.B. degree in Economics and Comparative Area Studies.

Mr. Litinsky is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of JHL Capital Group LLC, an alternative investment management firm. Before founding JHL in 2006, Mr. Litinsky was a member of the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund at Fortress Investment Group. Prior to Fortress, he was a Director of Finance at Omnicom Group, and he worked as a merchant banker at Allen & Company. Mr. Litinsky received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, cum laude, and a J.D./M.B.A. from the Northwestern University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar.

Mr. Schwethelm has 30 years of experience as an accounting and finance executive, predominantly in the energy sector. He has served as Chief Financial Officer of Tesoro Corporation, a Fortune 100 refining, marketing and logistics company, as Chief Financial Officer of Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company and as Chief Financial Officer of a Saudi Arabian family-owned leader in the provision of multiple-sector contracting services. Mr. Schwethelm has also worked in Saudi Arabia with the Internal Audit department of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, and with the State Auditor of Texas supervising the compliance and financial audits of The University of Texas System. Additionally, he served as Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer of a Texas Hill Country-based community bank holding company. Mr. Schwethelm received his BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. He began his career with Touche Ross & Co., a predecessor to a Big Four Accounting Firm.

Mr. Rosenthal was appointed Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MP Materials in 2019, after joining as interim Executive Vice President in 2017. He is a Managing Director of QVT Financial LP, an alternative investment management firm. He concentrated on global equities, distressed debt and special situations with a focus on the global automotive sector and on China. Prior to joining QVT Financial LP, he worked as a senior high yield credit analyst for Shenkman Capital Management. He is fluent in Chinese. Mr. Rosenthal graduated from Duke University with an A.B. degree in Economics and Comparative Area Studies.

Mr. Litinsky is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of JHL Capital Group LLC, an alternative investment management firm. Before founding JHL in 2006, Mr. Litinsky was a member of the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund at Fortress Investment Group. Prior to Fortress, he was a Director of Finance at Omnicom Group, and he worked as a merchant banker at Allen & Company. Mr. Litinsky received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, cum laude, and a J.D./M.B.A. from the Northwestern University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar.

Mr. Schwethelm has 30 years of experience as an accounting and finance executive, predominantly in the energy sector. He has served as Chief Financial Officer of Tesoro Corporation, a Fortune 100 refining, marketing and logistics company, as Chief Financial Officer of Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company and as Chief Financial Officer of a Saudi Arabian family-owned leader in the provision of multiple-sector contracting services. Mr. Schwethelm has also worked in Saudi Arabia with the Internal Audit department of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, and with the State Auditor of Texas supervising the compliance and financial audits of The University of Texas System. Additionally, he served as Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer of a Texas Hill Country-based community bank holding company. Mr. Schwethelm received his BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. He began his career with Touche Ross & Co., a predecessor to a Big Four Accounting Firm.

Our Mission makes CENTS

Security

Enabling critical green technologies

Protecting our economy by powering the American manufacturing renaissance

Supporting our troops with critical technologies for night vision, aerospace, and other defense applications

Securing American leadership in the electrification of transportation

Enabling critical green technologies

Protecting our economy by powering the American manufacturing renaissance

Supporting our troops with critical technologies for night vision, aerospace, and other defense applications

Securing American leadership in the electrification of transportation

Leveling the playing field

Today, China dominates the rare earth industry, producing over 80% of global supply. Having a single country as a potential point-of-failure in the industrial supply chain for trillions of dollars in GDP is untenable, and MP Materials provides a straightforward solution. Mountain Pass is blessed with one of the world’s highest quality deposits of rare earths, which allows MP Materials to be a global low-cost producer while adhering to our rigorous environmental standards and fulfilling our commitments to employees and our community.

MP Materials

Building America’s next generation supply chain

MP Materials

The green technologies of the future—electric vehicles, wind turbines, drones, and more—depend on powerful rare earth magnets to turn energy into motion. Without the consistent and trusted supply provided by MP Materials, the entire supply chain for critical magnetic materials has shifted to Asia, primarily China. MP Materials serves as the beachhead for a renaissance in domestic manufacturing. It starts with us.

  • The trend towards electrification is driving rapid demand growth for NdPr—for example, electric vehicles consume 3% of annual NdPr production today, but may consume ~100% of current annual production within the next decade.
  • Without the consciously-mined NdPr from MP Materials, not only will the future growth of “green” technologies depend on highly-pollutant supply from China and greater Australasia, but our advanced R&D and manufacturing will continue to follow that supply overseas.
  • MP Materials will help restore the U.S.’s resource independence—removing the single point-of-failure in our industrial supply chain and ensuring that the U.S. has a seat at the table in driving the automotive, aerospace, wind-power, and IT technologies of the future.