MP Materials (MP) Stock Skyrockets 380% on U.S. Rare-Earth Push – Boom or Bust?
Figure: Mountain Pass rare-earth mine in California reuters.com. MP Materials Corp owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare-earth mine in California, the only large-scale rare-earth production and processing facility in the U.S. reuters.com nasdaq.com. The company’s vertically integrated model spans mining, refining, and making magnets: its Mountain Pass site produces neodymium-praseodymium oxides, and its Texas “Fort Worth Independence” plant is building NdFeB magnet capacity. NdPr magnets are critical to “everything with motion” – from wind turbines and EV motors to smartphones and defense systems abc7.com ts2.tech. Rare-earth elements are thus strategic minerals: China currently supplies roughly 70% of global mine output and ~90% of processed rare-earth products reuters.com ts2.tech. MP’s U.S.-based chain is positioned to reduce this dependence. As Reuters and analysts note, MP’s dominance of the only U.S. mine “has seen its stock more than quadruple this year as Washington moves to secure domestic supplies” reuters.com. This makes MP a focal point in U.S. critical-minerals policy.