What are Rare Earth Elements?

Rare earths are fundamental building blocks of the modern economy, enabling trillions of dollars in global GDP via a wide range of clean energy, information technology, defense and industrial applications. Mountain Pass is one of the richest deposits of rare earth elements in the world. Today, MP Materials produces a concentrate that contains about 15% of the rare earth content consumed annually. By 2022 we will produce high-purity separated Neodymium and Praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, Lanthanum and Cerium oxides and carbonates, and a “heavy” rare earth concentrate.

Rare earths are a series of chemical elements found in the earth’s crust that are vital to many modern technologies
Extensive processing is required to separate rare earth elements from mined ore
While the elements themselves aren’t rare, ore bodies containing sufficient concentrations to make processing economically viable are exceedingly rare.
Unique magnetic and electrochemical properties of the elements enable technologies to perform with greater efficiency, performance, and durability—often by reducing weight, emissions, or energy consumption
Rare earth-enabled technologies power global economic growth, enable life-saving products, and help shrink our carbon footprint

SEG+ ’Heavies’ Concentrate
(Samarium / Europium / Gadolinium / Terbium / Dysprosium)

SEG+ is a combination of Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, and Dysprosium which MP Materials produces in a concentrate form.

EV Motors

Medical Devices

Lasers

Neodymium and Praseodymium (“NdPr”)

Neodymium and Praseodymium power the strongest types of rare earth magnets, which enable the conversion of electrical energy into motion via permanent-magnet motors. These motors power EVs and countless industrial processes.

EV Motors

Mobile Devices

Wind Turbines

Cerium

In addition to its role in various metal alloys and glass polishing compounds, Cerium reduces automobile emissions through its use in catalytic converters and enables energy efficiency by powering LED lighting.

Automotive Catalysts

Glass Polishing

LED lighting

Lanthanum

Lanthanum’s primary end-uses include automotive and imaging/vision applications. Lanthanum prevents corrosion in EV batteries, adds efficiency to petroleum cracking and enables specialized treatments for lenses and vision systems.

Rechargeable Batteries

Night Vision Goggles

Camera & Telescopic Lenses

Our Facility

Mountain Pass is a one-of-a-kind, world-class asset, consisting of fully integrated and co-located mining and processing capabilities. The self-contained nature of our operations – with mining, milling, separations, and finishing all on one site – affords us significant cost advantages and mitigates operational risks. The Mountain Pass mine contains more than 800k tons of recoverable rare earth oxides with an average 8% ore grade, one of the highest quality known deposits in the world. Mountain Pass is designed as a zero-discharge facility, featuring a dry tailings process that allows recycling of ~95% of the water used in the milling and flotation circuit, as well as a chlor-alkali facility that allows for the manufacture of reagents used in our rare earth separation and processing. Mountain Pass's location immediately adjacent to an interstate highway and easily accessible to rail and port facilities, enables cost-efficient distribution of our rare earth products.

Our Process

01 Mining 02 Beneficiation 03 Separation 04 Finishing 05 Chlor-Alkali

Mountain Pass’s primarily bastnaesite ore—one of the richest deposits of rare earths in the world—is recovered from an open-pit surface mine and separated from overburden waste.

Through a process of crushing, milling, conditioning and flotation, the rare earth elements in the ore are separated from the other elements, forming a rare earth concentrate.

The concentrate undergoes a complex chemical process to purify, recover, separate and precipitate the individual rare earth elements.

Rare earth oxides, primarily lanthanum, cerium, and NdPr oxide, are packaged and treated to meet specific customer specifications.

Waste solution from the separations process is recycled on-site in a closed-loop system to create the chemical reagents needed for processing.

What are Rare Earth Elements?