DoD Invests US$400 Million in Uncommon Earth Agency MP Supplies

The US Division of Protection (DoD) will change into the most important shareholder in MP Supplies (NYSE:MP) after agreeing to buy US$400 million value of most well-liked inventory within the firm, which owns and operates the one uncommon earth mine in the US.

The uncommon earths producer stated the proceeds from the funding will fund the enlargement of its processing capabilities on the Mountain Cross mine in California and help the development of a second magnet manufacturing facility within the US.

The supplies mined and processed by MP are crucial to the manufacturing of everlasting magnets utilized in navy programs, together with the F-35 fighter jet, drones, and submarines.

The US has depended closely on international imports for these supplies — primarily from China, which accounted for about 70 p.c of uncommon earth imports in 2023, in response to the US Geological Survey.

In a press launch issued Thursday (July 10), MP Supplies described the settlement as a “transformational public-private partnership” and stated it might “dramatically speed up the build-out of an end-to-end US uncommon earth magnet provide chain and cut back international dependency.”

The funding provides the Pentagon newly created most well-liked inventory convertible into widespread shares, together with a 10-year warrant to purchase further inventory at US$30.03 per share.

If totally transformed and exercised, the DoD would personal 15 p.c of MP Supplies, primarily based on present share counts as of July 9. That might exceed the 8.61 p.c stake held by CEO James Litinsky and the 8.27 p.c stake held by BlackRock Fund Advisors.

Litinsky emphasised that the deal doesn’t equate to authorities management of the corporate. “This isn’t a nationalization,” he stated in an interview on CNBC. “We stay a thriving public firm. We now have an excellent new companion in our economically largest shareholder, DoD, however we nonetheless management our firm. We management our future. We’re shareholder pushed.”

MP’s new magnet facility, referred to as the “10X Facility,” will enhance the corporate’s magnet manufacturing capability to 10,000 metric tons yearly as soon as it begins commissioning in 2028. The precise location of the ability has not but been disclosed.

The Pentagon has dedicated to buying one hundred pc of the magnets produced on the 10X Facility for 10 years.

Moreover, the DoD will assure a minimal worth of US$110 per kilogram for MP’s neodymium-praseodymium oxide (NdPr), a key materials utilized in magnet manufacturing. If market costs fall under that threshold, the Pentagon can pay the distinction quarterly.

In return, as soon as the brand new facility is operational, the federal government will obtain 30 p.c of any upside above US$110 per kilogram.

To additional help the buildout, MP Supplies expects to obtain a US$150 million mortgage from the Pentagon inside 30 days to develop its heavy uncommon earth separation capabilities at Mountain Cross, the one lively uncommon earth mine within the US.

It is usually commissioning a magnetics facility in Texas, generally known as Independence, to bolster its downstream processing capabilities.

As the one home miner with vertically built-in capabilities and a transparent path to uncommon earth magnet manufacturing at scale, MP Supplies now sits on the heart of the Biden-to-Trump period effort to deliver crucial mineral provide chains again to American soil.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, maintain no direct funding curiosity in any firm talked about on this article.