New York, June 17, 2026, 15:06 (EDT)
- MP Materials gained roughly 9% to $62.21 by the afternoon, moving higher while the S&P 500 proxy SPY edged down.
- Rare-earth stocks got a boost after G7 leaders moved to step up coordination on critical minerals and the Pentagon supported a $500 million loan for Phoenix Tailings. Reuters
- USA Rare Earth and Energy Fuels shares also rose. Other U.S.-listed critical-minerals stocks moved higher as well.
MP Materials Corp. shares surged Wednesday afternoon after new Western policy pushed rare-earth stocks higher and drew investor attention to the sector.
The miner based in Las Vegas traded up 9.0% at $62.21 in recent action, after hitting a high of $62.35. Some 4.6 million shares changed hands. Market cap was close to $11.1 billion.
G7 leaders want to cut their dependence on any single supplier of rare earths and permanent magnets outside the group and its partners to under 60% by 2030. The announcement came Wednesday. Rare earths play a key role in making strong magnets for EVs, defense and electronics. Reuters
The G7 move followed the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital saying it would back Phoenix Tailings with $500 million in long-term debt for a U.S. rare-earth midstream plant. Midstream here is the process after mining but before magnets—converting ore or scrap into rare-earth metals. Reuters
“This is an important signal of intent,” Benchmark Mineral Intelligence research manager Neha Mukherjee told Reuters. Mukherjee warned that supply chain diversification still relies on more investment in the mid and downstream segments. Reuters
MP is one of the small number of U.S.-listed companies with actual operations in the rare-earths business. The company’s annual report says it owns the Mountain Pass mine and processing site in California—the only sizable rare-earth mining and processing operation in North America—and also runs a magnet plant in Fort Worth, Texas. SEC
MP has been shifting its business model beyond mining. In May, the company posted first-quarter revenue of $90.6 million, up 49% from last year, and hit a new high for output of neodymium-praseodymium, or NdPr, which is used in magnets. CEO James Litinsky said MP saw “record NdPr production and sales” and continues to push expansion work at its plants. MP Materials
Rare earth names jumped. USA Rare Earth closed up 12.0%, Energy Fuels added 2.9%. The VanEck Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF was up 1.5%, showing stronger sector interest compared to the SPY, which dipped 0.3%.
There’s a catch. MP flagged risks like weaker production from outages, water limits, breakdowns, spare-parts gaps and process issues in its filing. The Pentagon’s Phoenix loan isn’t a done deal, either, with funding still tied to due diligence on finances, legal points and technicals. SEC
The next thing to watch is whether this policy backing actually leads to real-world results like new plant openings, contracts, and regular volumes. For now, traders saw the latest government support as more proof that rare-earth supply chains are still on the radar for Washington and the G7, and not only about earnings.
