# Mountain Pass mine and separation by MP Materials Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/materials/mountain-pass Frontier: [Materials](https://technooptimist.io/materials.md) · Field: Rare-earth mining & refining · Company: [MP Materials](https://technooptimist.io/companies/mp-materials.md) Stage: Scaling (5 of 5: Research → Proto → Pilot → Deploy → Scaling) Updated: last update 2026-08-06, facts checked 2026-10-11 Goal: Rebuild a rare-earth supply chain outside China starting from the ore. Mountain Pass mines, concentrates and separates rare earths on site and is adding the dysprosium and terbium that heat-resistant magnets need. Status: 840 t NdPr in Q2 2026; Dy/Tb circuit commissioning, first heavy rare earths due late 2026. Next milestone: Dy/Tb separation circuit commissioning, target 2026 ## Milestones | Status | Milestone | Date | Slip | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Done | Mine closes after waste spill and Chinese competition | 2002 | | | Done | MP Materials' owners buy the mine out of bankruptcy | Jul 2017 | | | Done | Mining and concentrate production resume | Jan 2018 | | | Done | DoD deal: $110/kg NdPr floor, $400M equity, $150M loan | Jul 2025 | | | Done | All product sales to China stop | Jul 2025 | | | Done | Price-floor payments start | Oct 2025 | | | Current | Dy/Tb separation circuit commissioning | 2026 | | | Planned | First dysprosium and terbium shipped to Fort Worth | Q4 2026 | | | Planned | New pre-flotation process at full scale | 2028 | | ## Upcoming events - **2026**: Dy/Tb separation circuit commissioning - **Q4 2026**: First dysprosium and terbium shipped to Fort Worth - **Nov 2026**: Q3 2026 NdPr production expected above 1,000 t - **2028**: New pre-flotation process at full scale ## Most important updates - **6 Aug 2026**: Mountain Pass NdPr output up 41% to 840 t; MP commissioning its dysprosium-terbium circuit. MP produced 840 tonnes of NdPr in the second quarter of 2026 and sold 1,006 tonnes, while rare-earth oxide output fell 16% because of a scheduled maintenance outage and pilot testing. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/mountain-pass-ndpr-output-up-41-to-840-t-mp-commissioning-its-845020a4.md) · [original source](https://mpmaterials.com/news/mp-materials-reports-second-quarter-2026-results)) - **6 Nov 2025**: MP Materials posts record NdPr output, ends sales to China and sets mid-2026 start for heavy rare-earth separation. Mountain Pass made a record 721 tonnes of NdPr in the third quarter of 2025, up 51% on a year earlier, after MP stopped all product sales to China. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/mp-materials-posts-record-ndpr-output-ends-sales-to-china-and-sets-mid-35913e58.md) · [original source](https://mpmaterials.com/news/mp-materials-reports-third-quarter-2025-results)) - **10 Jul 2025**: MP Materials and the US Defense Department agree a $110/kg NdPr price floor, $400M equity and heavy rare-earth loan. The Defense Department agreed to a 10-year price floor of $110 per kilogram for MP's NdPr products, a $400 million preferred stock purchase that would make it MP's largest shareholder, and a $150 million loan to expand heavy rare-earth… ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/mp-materials-and-the-us-defense-department-agree-a-110-kg-ndpr-price-18387dc6.md) · [original source](https://investors.mpmaterials.com/investor-news/news-details/2025/MP-Materials-Announces-Transformational-Public-Private-Partnership-with-the-Department-of-Defense-to-Accelerate-U-S--Rare-Earth-Magnet-Independence)) ## Current obstacles - **Ramping the refinery**: Separated products cost more per unit than concentrate while the refinery is under-used; Q2 2026 output was also cut by a maintenance outage and pilot testing. - **Restarting the chlor-alkali plant**: MP is recommissioning an idle on-site plant that makes its own process chemicals; the savings build only through 2027. ## Physics limits - **Rare earths are chemically near-twins**: Neighbouring rare earths behave almost identically in solution, so separation needs long chains of extraction stages, lots of reagent and tight control. - **Light-rich ore, few heavies**: Bastnäsite is dominated by light rare earths; the 200 t/yr Dy/Tb circuit is tiny next to NdPr output, so heavy supply depends on outside feed. ## How it works ### Mine: Open pit in carbonatite Ore rich in bastnäsite, a rare-earth carbonate mineral, is blasted, crushed and floated into a concentrate. ### Separation: Solvent extraction on site Concentrate is dissolved and passed through many liquid-liquid extraction steps that split chemically near-identical elements into NdPr oxide. ### Heavy circuit: Dysprosium and terbium A heavier rare-earth fraction (SEG+) stockpiled since late 2023, plus outside feed, goes to a new circuit for Dy and Tb, then samarium. ### Downstream: To the magnet plant Oxides go to MP's Independence plant in Fort Worth to be made into metal and NdFeB magnets. ## Spec sheet | Spec | Mountain Pass mine and separation | Provenance | | --- | --- | --- | | NdPr oxide output (Q2 2026) | 840 t | reported | | Rare-earth oxide output (Q2 2026) | 11,072 t | reported | | Dy/Tb circuit nameplate | 200 t/yr | reported | | Heavy rare-earth plant feed | ~3,000 t/yr | reported | | DoD NdPr price floor (10 years) | US$110/kg | reported | | Ore reserve grade (2020) | 7.06% rare-earth oxide | reported | | Ore reserve (2020) | 18.9 Mt ore, 1.36 Mt REO | reported | | Share of world output (2020) | 15.8% | reported | Provenance: reported = stated by the company; estimated = our estimate; sample = a sample figure. ## About MP Materials MP Materials owns Mountain Pass, North America's only major rare earth mine. It manufactures magnets at Fort Worth and plans the 10X campus in Texas. - Mountain Pass is North America's only large-scale rare earth mine and processing facility. - Fort Worth Independence began magnet production January 2025 at 1,000 metric tons per year. - 10X campus (2028) will add 10,000 metric tons/year backed by a US Department of War partnership. - Founded: 2017 - Headquarters: US - Status: public - Listing: MP (NYSE) - Last round: SPAC merger (Fortress Corp), 2020 - Website: https://www.mpmaterials.com - People: James Litinsky (CEO) - Partners, customers, investors: General Motors (customer); US Department of War (partner) Company page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/mp-materials.md ## Related programs More from MP Materials: - [Independence Fort Worth Magnet Facility](https://technooptimist.io/materials/independence.md) (Deploy) Everything in Materials: https://technooptimist.io/materials.md --- The Techno Optimist tracks every frontier of technology, program by program: https://technooptimist.io/ (a Markdown version of any page: add .md to its URL; site map for agents: https://technooptimist.io/llms.txt). 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