MP Materials

MP Materials Corp. is an American rare-earth materials company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. MP Materials owns and operates the Mountain Pass mine, the only operating rare earth mine and processing facility in the United States. MP Materials focuses its production on Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr), a rare earth material used in high-strength permanent magnets that power the traction motors found in electric vehicles, robotics, wind turbines, drones and other advanced motion technologies. MP Materials is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "MP". As of December 2021, JHL Capital Group, QVT Financial and CEO James Litinsky were the company's three largest shareholders, with about 7.7% of the company owned by Shenghe Resources, a Chinese company partly owned by the country's Ministry of Natural Resources. In July 2025, the United States Department of Defense announced a deal that would make it the largest shareholder of MP Materials.

In 2015, Molycorp, the previous owners of the Mountain Pass mine, filed for bankruptcy. At the time, it was the only U.S. producer of rare earth elements. While in bankruptcy, Secure Natural Resources (SNR), a company owned by Molycorp's creditors, including JHL Capital Group, gained control of the mine's mineral rights. In June 2017, the Mountain Pass mine was purchased at auction for $20.5 million by a new entity called MP Mine Operations LLC (MPMO). MPMO was a consortium formed principally by JHL Capital Group, a Chicago-based investment firm led by James Litinsky, along with QVT Financial LP and Shenghe Resources. Shenghe Resources held a minority, non-voting interest. At the time, Mountain Pass was in a state of "care and maintenance" and had only eight employees according to Litinsky.

Following the asset acquisitions and formation of the entities that became MP Materials, the company restarted operations at Mountain Pass. On July 15, 2020, the company announced a reverse takeover whereby MPMO and SNR would be merged with Fortress Value Acquisition Corporation to become a public company under the name MP Materials Corp. The transaction, which closed on November 17, 2020, raised $545 million. On November 18, 2020, MP Materials began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MP".

In December 2021, MP Materials signed a long-term agreement with General Motors to provide neodymium-iron-boron magnets for use in GM's electric vehicle motors. As part of the contract, MP Materials also agreed to provide alloy and finished magnets to GM for its electric vehicles and to open a new factory located in Fort Worth, Texas to produce the magnets.

As of December 2021, JHL Capital Group, QVT Financial, and CEO James Litinsky were the company's three largest shareholders, and about 7.7% of the company was owned by Shenghe Resources. Apart from institutions, other investors own 18%.

As of 2024, CEO James Litinsky was the company's largest shareholder. Other large shareholders include Vanguard, Shenghe Resources, BlackRock and Hancock Prospecting.

In April 2024, Hancock Prospecting, an Australian mining firm owned by Gina Rinehart, disclosed a 5.3% stake in MP Materials, comprising 8.8 million shares, and a 5.8% stake in Lynas.

In January 2025, MP Materials announced that their Independence facility in Fort Worth, Texas has commenced neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) metal production. According to the company, NdFeB magnets will be the first rare earth products to be refined in the United States which has long depended on foreign sources, particularly China.