Rare earth oxides producer Molycorp will invest an additional $114m in a rare earth processing facility, which is under construction at Mountain Pass in California, US.

With this investment the firm is planning to speed up the initial start-up of the facility by three months.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more

The initial start-up of the facility will enable Molycorp to achieve its full phase one production rate of 19,050 metric tons a year of rare earth oxide.

It will also increase the firm’s production capacity for 2012 by 3,500 metric tons, to between 8,000 and 10,000 metric tons.

The firm will commence mining and stockpiling of fresh rare earth ore in the coming week.

Molycorp president and CEO Mark Smith said accelerating the start-up will de-risk the overall project by allowing for a more orderly and sequential start up of the various circuits of the highly complex plant.

GlobalData Strategic Intelligence

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?

Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.

By GlobalData

 

 

Mining Technology Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Mining Technology Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact

Excellence in Action
Awarded the 2025 Mining Technology Excellence Innovation Award for Equipment Diagnostics, Razor Labs’ DataMind AI™ platform turns sensor data and imagery into actionable maintenance insights, avoiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime. Find out how leading mines are using DataMind AI™ to keep critical assets running.

Discover the Impact