MP Materials Forms New Rare Earth Partnership In Saudi Arabia

MP Materials is doing a new deal with a mining giant in the Middle East. And they’re aiming to reduce the world’s dependence on China for the supply of rare earth elements.

What’s happening:‍

• MP Materials (NYSE: MP) and Saudi Arabian mining giant Ma’aden have formed a new partnership to jointly develop a fully integrated supply chain for rare earth elements in Saudi Arabia
  

Why it matters:‍

• Ma’aden is one of the fastest growing mining companies in the history of Saudi Arabia and is the largest producer of metals in all of the Middle East
  

Going deeper:‍

• The new partnership between Ma’aden and MP Materials will focus on mining, separation, refining and magnet production of rare earth elements within Saudi Arabia
  
• The government of Saudi Arabia has publicly stated they want to become a leader in both the extraction of rare earth elements as well as the production of magnets that are vital inputs for manufacturing technology such as robotics hardware and rockets
  
• There has been a race in the public markets to build rare earth element supply that is not dependent on China, which has led to new partnerships forming between Energy Fuels (NYSE: UUUU) and The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) for building out a rare earth element supply chain in America as well as the United States Department of Defense pouring funding into Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV: UCU) to build out a new processing facility for rare earth separation technology in Louisiana
  

The intrigue:‍

• MP Materials also just recently stopped shipping rare earth concentrates to China following the restriction of rare earth exports from the Chinese government

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