Molycorp announces first US heavy rare earth facility

Molycorp, the leading rare earths and rare metals company, announced this week the launch of its new Project Phoenix heavy rare earth concentrate facilities at Mountain Pass, Calif. The facilities “will produce heavy rare earth concentrate from freshly mined Mountain Pass ore that will then be processed into high-purity, custom-engineered heavy rare earth products in Molycorp’s globally integrated production facilities.”

Molycorp’s heavy rare earths will be further processed into metals, alloys and magnetic materials used in everyday technologies such as hybrid electric vehicles, wind turbines, high-efficiency appliances as well as other applications. Given that China accounts for approximately 97 percent of the world’s output of rare earth minerals, this opportunity is an important factor in the United States’ ability to remain competitive by producing key minerals at home.

Through continued investment in projects like the Mountain Pass facilities, we can leverage the $6.2 trillion worth of key minerals we have domestically to ensure job creation and economic growth for our nation.