MP Materials begins US rare earth magnet production at Texas facility
January 27, 2025
MP Materials, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, has commenced commercial production of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) and trial production of automotive-grade, sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, at its facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
“This milestone marks a major step forward in restoring a fully integrated rare earth magnet supply chain in the United States,” said James Litinsky, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of MP Materials. “With record-setting upstream and midstream production at Mountain Pass and both metal and magnet production underway at Independence, we have reached a significant turning point for MP and U.S. competitiveness in a vital sector.”
NdFeB magnets are essential components in vehicles, drones, robotics, electronics, and aerospace and defence systems. Despite their indispensable role, the US has relied almost entirely on foreign sources for these critical inputs for decades.
MP Materials is addressing this gap by building America’s first fully integrated rare earth metal, alloy, and magnet manufacturing facility. With commercial NdPr metal production already online and trial production of sintered magnets underway, Independence is poised to produce approximately 1,000 metric tons of finished NdFeB magnets per year, with a gradual production ramp beginning in late 2025.
The facility will supply magnets to General Motors and other manufacturers, sourcing its raw materials from Mountain Pass, MP Materials’ mine and processing facility in California.
In 2024, MP materials delivered more than 45,000 metric tons of rare earth oxides (REO) contained in concentrate, reportedly an all-time high for US primary production. Mountain Pass, said to be America’s only active rare earth mining and processing operation of scale, also set a midstream production record, producing approximately 1,300 metric tons of NdPr oxide in 2024, in addition to cerium, lanthanum, and other separated and refined products.
