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Item 1. BUSINESS

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Item 1. BUSINESS

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Overview

MP Materials Corp., including its subsidiaries (the “Company,” “MP Materials,” “we,” “our,” and “us”), is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Company owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility (“Mountain Pass”) located near Mountain Pass, San Bernardino County, California, the only rare earth mining and processing site of scale in North America. The Company is also developing a rare earth metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas (“Independence” or the “Independence Facility”). The Company’s operations are organized into two reportable segments: Materials and Magnetics. See Note 20, “Segment Reporting,” in the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

The Materials segment operates Mountain Pass, which produces refined rare earth oxides and related products as well as rare earth concentrate products. The Materials segment primarily generates revenue from (i) sales of rare earth concentrate, which is principally sold pursuant to the Offtake Agreements (as defined in Note 19, “Related-Party Transactions,” in the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements) to Shenghe (as defined in the “Customers” section below), that, in turn, typically sells that product to refiners in China, and (ii) sales of separated rare earth products, including neodymium-praseodymium (“NdPr”) oxide, primarily to customers in Japan, South Korea, and broader Asia.

The Magnetics segment operates the Independence Facility, where the Company began production of magnetic precursor products in December 2024 and anticipates manufacturing neodymium-iron-boron (“NdFeB”) permanent magnets by the end of 2025. The Company expects that the Magnetics segment will begin generating revenue from sales of magnetic precursor products, specifically NdPr metal, to a single customer in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2025.

Certain rare earth elements (“REE”) serve as critical inputs for the rare earth magnets inside the electric motors and generators powering carbon-reducing technologies such as hybrid and electric vehicles (referred to collectively as “xEVs”) and wind turbines, as well as drones, defense systems, robotics and many other high-growth, advanced technologies. Our integrated operations at Mountain Pass combine low production costs with high environmental standards, thereby restoring American leadership to a critical industry with a strong commitment to sustainability. The Company believes businesses are increasingly prioritizing diversification and security of their global supply chains to reduce reliance on a single producer or region for critical materials. As the only scaled source in North America for critical rare earths, with a processing footprint designed to operate with best-in-class sustainability and an industry-leading cost structure, the Company believes it is well-positioned to thrive as the global economy electrifies and as the United States prioritizes domestic manufacturing and secure supply chains.

The Company’s mission is to maximize stockholder returns over the long-term by executing a disciplined business strategy to restore the full rare earth magnetics supply chain to the United States of America. The Company believes it will generate positive outcomes for U.S. national security and industry, the U.S. workforce, and the environment.

Rare Earth Industry Overview

REE are crucial enablers of modern technologies spanning transportation, electronics, and robotics that have permeated modern society. REE are used in supporting, but often critical, amounts in hundreds of different technologies, materials, and chemicals worldwide for commercial, industrial, social, medical, and environmental applications. In the last several decades, REE have become deeply integrated into the foundation of modern technology and industry and have proven to be difficult to duplicate or replace.

By economic value, neodymium-praseodymium (previously defined as “NdPr,” also referred to as “PrNd” or “didymium”) is the largest segment of the REE market. NdPr is primarily used in neodymium-iron-boron (“NdFeB”) permanent magnets for electric machines such as EV traction motors, wind power generators, drones, robotics, electronics and a growing list of other applications. The rapid growth of these and other end-use markets is expected to drive substantial demand growth for NdPr and NdFeB magnets in the years ahead.

The REE group includes 17 elements, primarily the 15 lanthanide elements. Lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium and promethium are considered “light” REE (“LREE”); samarium, europium and gadolinium are often referred to as “medium” REE; while terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium are considered “heavy” REE (“HREE”). Two additional elements, yttrium and scandium, are often classified as HREE although they are not lanthanides. Depending upon the rare earth-bearing mineral, the relative abundance of light, medium and heavy REE will differ. The REE in the Mountain Pass ore body are contained primarily within bastnaesite and related minerals in which LREE are predominant.

The aggregate global market for rare earth oxides (“REO”) totaled approximately 226,000 metric tons (“MTs”) in 2024 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of approximately 5.9% through 2040, according to research by Adamas Intelligence Inc. (“Adamas”). Further, Adamas estimates that the NdPr segment of the REO market, which makes up a significant majority of the market value, is expected to grow at an 8.4% CAGR through 2040 (excluding the impact of swarf recycling), well in excess of the overall REO market. This expected growth will be driven by secular growth in demand for NdPr magnets.

Rare earth materials are used in a diverse array of end markets, including:

  • Electric Mobility:** traction motors in passenger xEVs, commercial xEVs, special purpose vehicles, two-wheelers, and other applications;

*•*Industrial, Consumer and Professional Service Robotics: motors, actuators, brakes and sensors used in industrial robots and welders, as well as consumer, service and humanoid robots;

  • Renewable Power Generation:** wind power generators, for on- and offshore applications;

  • Energy-Efficient Motors, Pumps and Compressors:** heating, ventilation and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems, elevators, escalators, consumer appliances and other industrial applications;

*•*Consumer and Medical Applications: smart phones, tablets, laptops, hard disk drives, audio speakers, microphones, cameras, printers, cordless power tools as well as fiber optics, laser crystals, x-ray equipment, prostheses, dental crowns and more;

  • Critical Defense Systems:** guidance and control systems, communications, avionics, global positioning systems, radar and sonar, drones, thermal barrier coatings and firearms; and

  • Catalysts and Phosphors:** catalysts for vehicle emissions reduction and fuel refining, as well as phosphors for energy-efficient lighting, backlighting and counterfeit currency detection.

Process

The Company has established a three-stage business plan to enable and scale the full rare earth supply chain. Processing of rare earth materials at Mountain Pass includes five primary process steps: (i) mining and crushing; (ii) milling and flotation; (iii) roasting, leaching and impurity removal; (iv) separation and extraction; and (v) product finishing. Through its upstream operations (“Stage I”), which are comprised of the first two of these process steps, the Company produces rare earth concentrate that is marketed to refiners primarily via a distribution arrangement. In 2023, the Company commenced midstream operations (“Stage II”), which consist of the latter three primary process steps to produce separated rare earth products that are marketed directly to end users and indirectly via distributors, with revenue generated primarily from the magnet supply chain. Lastly, the Company is establishing downstream capabilities (“Stage III”) at Independence to convert a portion of the REO produced at Mountain Pass into rare earth magnets and its precursor products to be marketed directly to end users. The Company’s Materials segment includes both upstream and midstream operations, while the downstream operations constitute the Magnetics segment.

Upstream Operations - Stage I

Following the acquisition of Mountain Pass in July 2017, the Company began implementing Stage I, which was designed to re-establish stable and scaled production of rare earth concentrate by leveraging the site’s existing processing facilities. The upstream operations include the mining of primarily bastnaesite ore followed by comminution, which involves crushing and grinding the ore into a milled slurry. Then, the slurry is processed by froth flotation, whereby the bastnaesite is carried to the surface while the gangue, or non-desired, elements are suppressed and disposed as tailings.

Since restarting operations from cold-idle status, the Company implemented changes in the milling, flotation and tailings management processes; implemented and continue to advance an improved reagent scheme to enhance mineral recovery; and implemented operational best practices. Together, these changes have materially increased plant uptime and reliability driving enhanced flotation throughput, REO recovery and production as well as tailings facility reliability and throughput at a lower cost per processed ton. Following the implementation of the Company’s Stage I optimization plan, the Company has achieved at least 40,000 MTs of annual REO Production Volume (as defined in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations) since 2021. The Company’s Stage I optimization plan enabled it to achieve what the Company believes to be world-class production cost levels for rare earth concentrate.

In November 2023, the Company announced its “Upstream 60K” strategy whereby the Company intends to grow its annual REO Production Volume to approximately 60,000 MTs by expanding upstream capacity via investments in further

beneficiation, including the ability to process alternative feedstocks and upgrade lower-grade feedstocks. The Company aims to achieve this initiative within the next three years with modest incremental capital investment.

Midstream Operations - Stage II

Stage II advanced the Company’s operations from the production of rare earth concentrate to the separation of individual REE. The project incorporated upgrades and enhancements to the prior facility process flow intended to reliably produce separated REE at a low cost while minimizing the impact on the environment. More specifically, the Company reintroduced an oxidizing roasting circuit, reoriented portions of the plant process flow, increased product finishing capacity, improved wastewater management, and made other improvements to materials handling and storage.

The roasting step that oxidizes the rare earth concentrate in a rotary kiln is crucial to ensuring cost-competitiveness. One of the unique attributes of bastnaesite ore is the ability to convert the trivalent cerium in the mixed rare earth concentrate to tetravalent cerium that has a low propensity to dissolve, enabling cerium to be removed expediently along with other insoluble gangue elements without selective extraction. Removal of the lower-value cerium early in the Company’s separations process allows for a significant reduction in the mass of material to be separated and finished, thus reducing the energy, reagents, and wastewater required to produce the higher-value NdPr. Additionally, roasting facilitates a lower temperature leach that reduces maintenance costs and downtime.

During the second half of 2023, the Company began producing separated rare earth products. However, the Company continues to expect that it may take many quarters to achieve its designed throughput of separated products. As the Company increases production of separated products over time, it expects to improve the Company’s per-unit production costs of NdPr oxide, which represents a majority of the value contained in the Company’s concentrate. Additionally, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company utilizes tolling partners in Southeast Asia to process the Company’s NdPr oxide into NdPr metal for delivery to the Company’s customers globally.

In February 2022, the Company was awarded a $35.0 million contract by the Department of Defense’s Office of Industrial Base Policy, Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, to design and build a facility to process HREE. Successful completion of this project will establish, for the first time in many years, commercial-scale processing and separation of HREE in support of commercial and defense applications in the U.S. The HREE processing and separations facility (the “HREE Facility”) will be built at Mountain Pass and will be integrated into the rest of the Company’s facilities. The Company is currently advancing the facilitating works, engineering and procurement for the HREE Facility, which is expected to produce HREE products primarily for use in the Magnetics segment.

Downstream Operations and Future Capabilities - Stage III

In February 2022, the Company commenced construction of the Independence Facility, the U.S.’s first fully-integrated rare earth metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing facility located in Fort Worth, Texas. Independence will convert NdPr oxide produced at Mountain Pass into permanent magnets and its precursor products, while incorporating magnet recycling capabilities. The Company expects Independence to be capable of producing approximately 1,000 MTs of finished rare earth magnets per year at its initial design capacity, with infrastructure to support future capacity expansion. The initial capacity would be sufficient to power more than 700,000 electric vehicle motors annually, in addition to enabling other key markets including robotics, semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy, electronics and defense technologies. The Independence Facility serves as the business and engineering headquarters for the Company’s Magnetics segment.

In December 2024, the Company commissioned its electrowinning capability to produce NdPr metal from NdPr oxide at Independence. Further, the Company introduced capabilities to produce neodymium-praseodymium-iron-boron alloy flake, a key precursor product that is utilized as the material feedstock for magnet manufacturing. In addition, the Company recently began trial production of automotive-grade, sintered NdFeB magnets at its new product introduction (“NPI”) facility within Independence. In the near-term, the Company expects to produce and sell magnetic precursor products ahead of commissioning of its magnet manufacturing capabilities, which are targeted to enter service at the end of 2025. Following commissioning of these capabilities and qualification of the Company’s finished magnets, the Company expects it will manufacture and sell finished magnets.

In March 2024, the Company was awarded a $58.5 million Section 48C Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (the “48C Credit”) to advance the construction of the Independence Facility. The 48C Credit is an investment tax credit equal to 30% of qualified investments for certified projects that meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements and are placed in service after the date of the award. The allocation of the awards under the 48C Credit was issued by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury following a competitive, oversubscribed process administered by the Department of Energy that evaluated the technical and commercial viability and environmental and community impact of approximately 250 projects.

Strategy

Offer the Western Hemisphere a trusted, sustainable source of supply for materials and components that enable the development of critical industries.

More than 60 years of operations at Mountain Pass have demonstrated that the Company’s ore body is one of the world’s largest and highest-grade rare earth resources. The low-volume nature of rare earth mining coupled with the exceptional scale and quality of the ore body results in a resource with significant viability well into the future.

Upon achieving our designed throughput of separated products, the Company believes Mountain Pass will be one of the largest, most advanced and efficient fully-integrated REO processing facilities in the world, and the only such facility located in the Western Hemisphere. The Company aims to provide users of rare earths a U.S. alternative that helps avoid the risks associated with the single point-of-failure that Chinese producers represent. In addition, the U.S. government is actively seeking to end the country’s reliance on foreign REE sources, and the Company believes that this provides it with an advantage relative to non-U.S. REE producers.

The global effort to curb carbon emissions and address climate change often focuses on the impact of the transportation system. The Company believes that its products will play a large role in advancing those efforts. To date, nearly all U.S. states and the District of Columbia have mandated or offer incentives to support deployment of xEVs or alternative fuel vehicles and supporting infrastructure, either through state legislation or private utility incentives within the state, with similar mandates and incentives in other countries globally. Additionally, in August 2022, the U.S. government enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which, among other things, provides several tax incentives to promote clean energy adoption, including tax credits on the purchase of xEVs and the production of certain critical minerals such as NdPr oxide. The NdPr oxide that the Company produces at Mountain Pass is essential to the permanent magnet motor technology deployed in a significant majority of current xEVs.

In addition, the Company believes end consumers will demand that the materials used to build these vehicles be extracted sustainably. MP Materials is committed to environmental responsibility and sustainability. The Company’s environmental management plans cover biodiversity impacts, waste and noise management, air and water pollution, water extraction and discharge, as well as natural resource disturbance and toxic chemical usage. The Company believes this commitment to responsible production of REO is a strong competitive advantage.

A confluence of geopolitical and economic factors is causing downstream customers, such as automotive and industrial original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), to be increasingly focused on supply risk, highlighting the need to develop domestic production of REE and related products. As the demand for xEVs and robotics continues to grow, the Company anticipates that automotive and industrial OEMs will continue to reconfigure their supply chains to secure a consistent and reliable supply of rare earth materials for manufacturing critical magnetic components. MP Materials is strategically positioned to leverage this opportunity by collaborating with both existing and prospective customers. Our goal is to support their efforts in realigning capital and labor within their supply chains to accommodate the growing demand for electrification.

Leverage the Company’s low-cost position to maximize earnings power in all commodity price environments.

The success of the Company’s business reflects its ability to manage its costs. The Company’s production achievements in Stage I have provided economies of scale to lower production costs per unit of REO produced in concentrate. Furthermore, Stage II was designed to enable the Company to continue to manage its cost structure for separating REE through an optimized facility process flow. This process flow allows the Company to use less energy and raw materials per ton of separated REO. Despite the initial phase of NdPr oxide production leading to elevated per-unit costs, the Company anticipates a decrease in per-unit production costs over time as production volumes expand.

Optimization of logistics is also central to maintaining a low-cost position relative to other global producers. Mountain Pass, located immediately adjacent to Interstate 15 and within a one-hour drive of a major railhead and a four-hour drive of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, offers transportation advantages that create meaningful cost efficiencies in securing incoming supplies and shipping its final products. The Company believes the self-contained nature of its operations, with mining, milling, separations, and finishing all on one site, creates additional cost advantages and operational risk mitigation. In addition, The Mountain Pass site includes a currently idle chlor-alkali facility that may be restarted in the future to produce key raw materials used in separations. Upon achieving the designed throughput of separated products, the Company’s integrated site will incur lower costs of packaging, handling and transportation as compared to competitors who lack co-located processing.

Further the Company’s mission and ability to capture the full rare earth value chain through downstream integration into rare earth magnet production.

At Independence, with GM as a foundational customer, the Company is pursuing vertical integration through further downstream processing of REO into finished rare earth magnets and precursor products, and incorporating process waste and end-of-life magnet recycling. As discussed above, in December 2024, the Company commissioned its electrowinning capability to produce NdPr metal from NdPr oxide and introduced capabilities to produce neodymium-praseodymium-iron-boron alloy flake, a key precursor product that is utilized as the material feedstock for magnet manufacturing. In addition, the Company recently began trial production of automotive-grade, sintered NdFeB magnets at its NPI facility within Independence. The Company is targeting the commissioning of its magnet manufacturing capabilities by the end of 2025.

Throughout 2024, the Company significantly advanced the organization’s engineering and manufacturing technology capabilities and meaningfully added to its magnetics team of scientists, technicians, and engineers, with the team now comprised of over 100 employees. With the recent achievements at Independence, the Company has taken a significant step towards reestablishing a fully integrated, domestic supply chain for these critical components for the first time in decades. By offering magnet customers a complete, end-to-end Western supply chain solution, the Company believes vertical integration represents a material incremental value creation opportunity, which the Company is uniquely positioned to provide given its ownership of Mountain Pass.

Beyond re-establishing a supply chain for REE in the Western Hemisphere, the Company expects to capitalize on the growing demand for downstream magnetic materials. In aiming to achieve technical and cost leadership, the Company expects it will continue to explore opportunities to invest in, develop, and/or sponsor new downstream initiatives for REO and rare earth products that support industrial electrification. MP Materials’ successes at Mountain Pass highlight its ability to identify undervalued assets, execute disciplined strategies, and assemble skilled management. The Company will leverage its expertise across the critical minerals value chain, responsibly allocating capital to benefit stockholders and align with its mission.

Human Capital Resources

The people of MP Materials are the Company’s most valuable asset in fulfilling the Company’s mission. At the core of the Company’s success is the relentless pursuit to maintain and nurture an owner-operator culture that instills an entrepreneurial spirit where employees feel motivated and empowered to deliver results through an unwavering commitment to doing what is right in a safe environment. In order to promote MP Materials’ owner-operator culture, every employee receives a discretionary grant of time-vested restricted stock units after joining the Company. The Company believes equity ownership reinforces the employees’ sense of their contribution to the Company’s success.

Ensuring the Company attracts, develops and retains top talent across all functions with diverse experiences, backgrounds and perspectives is critical to the Company’s success. An employee retention rate of approximately 95% was achieved in every calendar quarter during 2024, which continues to demonstrate the Company’s priorities of ensuring its team is healthy, incentivized, proud to work for MP Materials, and believes in the Company’s mission.

Employees

Since relaunching production at Mountain Pass in July 2017, the Company has increased its full-time equivalent (“FTE”) employee base from eight contractors in 2017 to 804 employees as of December 31, 2024, of which approximately 83% were field-based employees. This represents an 18% increase of FTE employees in 2024, on top of a 40% increase in 2023. None of the Company’s employees are subject to any collective bargaining agreements. The Company continues to advance its commitment to creating employment opportunities for U.S. workers and has added over 300 employees across the past two years, including 56 employees at the Independence Facility during 2024.

Health, Safety and Well-Being

The health, safety, and well-being of the Company’s employees, suppliers and communities are a priority, with “Safety” being one of the Company’s six core values, along with “Empowerment,” “Entrepreneurship,” “Integrity,” “Results,” and “Unwavering” effort. MP Materials is committed to maintaining a strong safety culture and continues to emphasize the importance of its employees’ role in identifying, mitigating and communicating safety risks. To ensure the ongoing safety of employees and any contractors working on-site, the Company has a clear set of health and safety guidelines in place and routinely conducts general as well as equipment- and process-specific safety training. The Company believes that the achievement of superior safety performance is both an important short-term and long-term strategic imperative in managing its operations.

All newly-hired employees at Mountain Pass complete a minimum of 24 hours of Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”) training during the onboarding process and must, at a minimum, complete annual refresher training. Following their initial training, depending on their job classification, new employees complete targeted online and supervised field training specific to their roles and responsibilities. For example, operations and maintenance workers go through specific Lock Out/Tag Out/Try Out training, confined-space work and rescue, and forklift classroom and in-the-field training. In total, during 2024, the Company’s employees completed over 13,000 hours of new hire and/or annual refresher training and over 1,200 hours of emergency medical response training, including first aid and CPR.

The Company utilizes a formalized digital data reporting system to track all incidents reportable to the California Occupational Health and Safety Administration and MSHA. The Company tracks lost time injuries, recordable injuries, recordable injury rates, and near-miss reports. MP Materials strongly encourages the reporting of near-miss incidents so that it can mitigate hazards or change procedures to improve workforce safety in advance of any actual incident. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had completed over 1,700 days without a lost-time injury.

Diversity and Meritocracy

MP Materials believes that a diverse and meritocratic workforce and Board of Directors produces better overall decision-making for employees, which benefits the organization. In prioritizing hiring employees with the requisite skills, the Company continues to assemble a diverse workforce. As of December 31, 2024, based on employees’ self-reporting, veterans and women represented 4% and 15%, respectively, of the Company’s workforce and 20% of managerial or supervisory positions were occupied by women. As of December 31, 2024, women represented 28% of the Company’s Board of Directors. Additionally, as of December 31, 2024, 51% of the Company’s workforce was composed of underrepresented minorities.

Employee Engagement and Development

Employee engagement efforts are critical in ensuring all employees feel heard, respected, and valued, and that applicable actions are taken when feedback is received. The Company continues to hold events where collaboration occurs and contributions are recognized while continuing its focus on providing opportunities for employees to interact with executive management through events such as in-person sessions, milestone celebrations, and routine stand-up briefings.

Methodical execution is key to ensuring Company goals are achieved and exceeded. To ensure the Company’s employees receive the feedback they need to grow and thrive in their careers, MP Materials continually reviews and updates its performance-management processes. The Company ensures that new hires receive the feedback and support they need by scheduling periodic performance evaluations three to six months after their introductory periods. Managers hold reviews with all employees no less than annually to give them an opportunity to discuss work performance. This performance management process, rooted in the values of the organization, sets the foundation for applicable goal setting, individual development plans and career pathways going forward.

MP Materials is dedicated to the continual training and development of its employees, especially of those in field operations, to ensure the Company develops future managers and leaders from within its organization. The training starts on an employee’s first day with on-boarding procedures that focus on safety, responsibility, ethical conduct, and collaborative teamwork. In addition, the Company has partnered with educational institutions, governmental authorities, and strategic outside organizations to further enhance and improve access to the talent required to advance the Company’s mission. The Company also has an electrical and instrumentation apprenticeship program that pays for employees to attend trade school to increase their opportunity for future advancement.

Sustainability and Natural Resources

The Company’s business provides a key input to carbon-reducing technologies critical for the transition to a low-carbon economy. Further, MP Materials is solving for the foreign-controlled overconcentration of the rare earth supply while helping to enable a more sustainable future. Sustainability at MP Materials means much more than maintaining environmentally conscious operations; it means caring for the health, safety, and well-being of our employees; encouraging a spirit of joint ownership, entrepreneurship, and continuous growth; supporting the communities that surround us; and operating with integrity. The Company recognizes that it has a responsibility to operate as efficiently as possible to reduce emissions.

The Company believes Mountain Pass is the world’s cleanest and most environmentally sustainable rare earth production facility. Producing rare earth materials requires significant energy and resources and can lead to environmental challenges if not carefully managed. MP Materials understands that our natural resources, such as water, are precious and limited. As such, the Company is committed to limiting resource consumption, increasing efficiency, and achieving as light of an environmental

footprint as possible. The Company does this, in part, by investing in water recycling, reducing reagent usage, implementing energy reduction initiatives, and utilizing a dry stack tailings process.

The Company believes it is unique among scaled rare earth producers in its use of a dry tailings process that allows recycling of the water used in the milling and flotation circuit and eliminates the need for high-risk wet tailings ponds and traditional impoundment dams. The Company’s tailings and concentrate dewatering methods provide a closed-loop water resource for its beneficiation process satisfying approximately 95% of those processes’ water needs at Mountain Pass. The Company also has a variety of initiatives underway at Mountain Pass to limit freshwater withdrawal and maximize recycling. In addition, the Company remains focused on ensuring the most efficient use of energy to minimize hydrocarbon consumption and greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.

The materials that the Company produces are essential to the supply chains for many technologies that help decarbonize the global economy, improve productivity in the workforce, and better the lives of many. Without MP Materials’ conscientiously-mined materials, not only will the future of magnetic technologies depend on more highly polluting traditional production methods, but the advanced research and development related to these vital applications and their manufacturing will continue to follow that supply overseas. MP Materials is restoring the resource independence of the U.S.— removing the single point-of-failure in the supply chain for these products and ensuring that American industry can determine its own future in the automotive, robotics, aerospace, renewable energy, and information technology industries.

Customers

Materials Segment

Currently, the Company sells the vast majority of its rare earth concentrate to Shenghe Resources (Singapore) International Trading Pte. Ltd. (“Shenghe”) under the terms of the 2024 Offtake Agreement, which became effective in January 2024 and replaced and extended the 2022 Offtake Agreement (as such terms are defined in Note 19, “Related-Party Transactions,” in the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements). Shenghe is an indirect majority-owned subsidiary of Shenghe Resources Holding Co., Ltd., a leading global rare earth company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Under the 2024 Offtake Agreement, Shenghe is contractually obligated to purchase the Company’s rare earth concentrate product meeting certain minimum specifications as the exclusive distributor in China on a “take-or-pay” basis (such that they are obliged to pay for product even if they are unable or unwilling to take delivery), with certain exceptions for the Company’s direct sales globally. Shenghe then sells the rare earth concentrate it acquires to customers in China for processing into refined products. In addition, at the discretion of the Company, Shenghe may be required to purchase on a “take-or-pay” basis certain non-concentrate rare earth products, although the Company may sell all non-concentrate rare earth products in its sole discretion to customers or end users in any jurisdiction.

The initial term of the 2024 Offtake Agreement is two years, with the option for the Company to extend the term for an additional one-year period. The terms of the 2024 Offtake Agreement are substantially the same as those of the 2022 Offtake Agreement with the exception of the addition of NdPr metal into the definition of non-concentrate rare earth products.

In February 2023, the Company entered into a distributorship agreement (the “Distribution Agreement”) with Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (“Sumitomo”), under which Sumitomo serves as the exclusive distributor of the NdPr oxide and NdPr metal produced by the Company to Japanese customers. The initial term of the Distribution Agreement extends through the end of 2025 with options to renew annually.

The Company also regularly enters into short- and long-term sales contracts with other customers for the sale of its rare earth concentrate and separated rare earth products.

Magnetics Segment

In April 2022, as discussed above, the Company entered into a long-term agreement to supply magnets and precursor products manufactured at the Independence Facility to GM as its foundational customer. The Company is also pursuing sales opportunities to other customers for its future magnet products.

Suppliers

The Materials segment uses certain proprietary chemical reagents in its flotation process, which it currently purchases from third-party suppliers. The hydrometallurgy, separations, and product finishing processes are reliant upon certain commodity reagents. These chemicals are subject to pricing volatility, supply availability and other restrictions and guidelines. In the event of a supply disruption or any other restriction, the Company believes that alternative reagents could be sourced for certain

processes. As operations scale at the Independence Facility, the Company expects that the Magnetics segment will be supplied with NdPr oxide produced at Mountain Pass, which is within the Materials segment. In addition, certain raw materials expected to be used in the production of metal and magnets may be subject to pricing volatility, supply availability and other restrictions and guidelines.

Patents, Trademarks and Licenses

The Company relies on a combination of trade secret protection, nondisclosure and licensing agreements, patents and trademarks to establish and protect its proprietary intellectual property rights. The Company utilizes patents, trade secret protection and nondisclosure agreements to protect its proprietary rare earth technology.

Competition

The rare earth mining, processing, and magnetics manufacturing markets are capital-intensive and highly competitive. With continued state-sponsored consolidation, there remain two major rare earth groups in China. These groups and their affiliates control (and/or allocate to unaffiliated third parties) substantially all of China’s quota for concentrate production and rare earth refining. Outside of China, there are few producers operating at scale, with processing capabilities located in Australia and Malaysia. China also maintains a dominant position in the supply of NdFeB permanent magnets due to its vast rare earth reserves, advanced processing capabilities, and vertically integrated production infrastructure.

Environmental and Regulatory Matters

The Company is subject to numerous federal, state and local environmental laws, certifications, regulations, permits, and other legal requirements applicable to the mining, mineral processing industry, and magnetics manufacturing industries including, without limitation, those pertaining to employee health and safety, air quality standards and emissions, water usage, wastewater and stormwater discharges, GHG emissions, hazardous and radioactive and other waste management, storage and handling of naturally occurring radioactive material, plant and wildlife protection, remediation of contamination, land use, reclamation and restoration of properties, procurement of certain materials used in the Company’s operations, groundwater quality and the use of explosives. Environmental laws and regulations continue to evolve which may require the Company to meet stricter standards and give rise to greater enforcement, result in increased fines and penalties for non-compliance, and result in a heightened degree of responsibility for companies and their officers, directors and employees. Future laws, regulations, permits or legal requirements, as well as the re-interpretation or change in enforcement of existing requirements, may require substantial increases in capital or operating costs to achieve and maintain compliance or otherwise delay, limit or prohibit operations, or impose other restrictions upon the Company’s current or future operations, or result in the imposition of fines and penalties for failure to comply.

Complying with these regulations is complicated and requires significant attention and resources. The Company expects to continue to incur significant sums for ongoing environmental matters, including salaries, and expenditures for monitoring, compliance, remediation, reporting, pollution control equipment and permitting.

Information About Our Executive Officers

The persons serving as executive officers of MP Materials and their positions with the Company are as follows:

NameAgePosition
James H. Litinsky47Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Michael Rosenthal46Chief Operating Officer
Ryan Corbett35Chief Financial Officer
Elliot Hoops50General Counsel and Secretary

James H. Litinsky. Mr. Litinsky is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MP Materials. Mr. Litinsky is also the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of JHL Capital Group LLC (“JHL”), an alternative investment management firm. Before founding JHL in 2006, he was a member of the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund at Fortress Investment Group (“Fortress”). Prior to Fortress, he was a Director of Finance at Omnicom Group, and he worked as a merchant banker at Allen & Company. Mr. Litinsky received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, cum laude, and a J.D./M.B.A. from the Northwestern University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar.

Michael Rosenthal. Mr. Rosenthal is a Founder and the Chief Operating Officer of MP Materials. He has managed the Mountain Pass operation since the Company acquired the site in 2017. Before MP Materials, he was a Partner at QVT Financial (“QVT”), an investment management firm. At QVT, Mr. Rosenthal concentrated on investments in the global automotive sector and in China. Prior to joining QVT, he worked as a senior high yield credit analyst for Shenkman Capital Management. Mr. Rosenthal graduated from Duke University with an A.B. degree in Economics and Comparative Area Studies.

Ryan Corbett. Mr. Corbett joined MP Materials as its Chief Financial Officer in 2019. Prior to joining MP Materials, he was a Managing Director at JHL, where he focused on JHL’s investment in MP Materials. Before JHL, Mr. Corbett was a member of alternative asset managers Brahman Capital Corp. and King Street Capital Management LP, both based in New York, where he focused on special situations investments across the capital structure. Mr. Corbett began his career in investment banking and corporate finance at Morgan Stanley & Co. after graduating magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in Finance.

Elliot Hoops. Mr. Hoops joined MP Materials as its General Counsel and Secretary in May 2021. Prior to joining MP Materials, he was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Penn National Gaming, Inc. (now known as PENN Entertainment, Inc. (“PENN”)), a regional gaming company, from January 2019 to May 2021, where he was responsible for a variety of legal matters, including commercial transactions, financings, corporate governance, securities law and gaming regulatory compliance. Prior to joining PENN, he was Vice President and Legal Counsel at Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. (“Pinnacle”), a regional gaming company (which was acquired by PENN), from June 2007 to October 2018. Prior to Pinnacle, he was an associate at Holland and Knight LLP and an attorney advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Mr. Hoops received his B.A. in English from the University of Michigan, J.D. from the University of Miami, and LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center.

Available Information

The Company’s website is located at www.mpmaterials.com. Annual reports on Form 10‑K, quarterly reports on Form 10‑Q, current reports on Form 8‑K, and amendments to those reports, proxy and information statements, earnings releases, and financial statements are made available free of charge on the investor relations section of the Company’s website as soon as reasonably practicable after the Company electronically files such materials with, or furnishes such materials to, the SEC. The Company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is also available on the investor relations section of its website. The information contained on its website, or accessible from its website, is not incorporated into, and should not be considered part of, this Form 10‑K or any other documents the Company files with, or furnishes to, the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Annual reports, quarterly reports, current reports, amendments to those reports, proxy and information statements, earnings releases, financial statements and the Company’s various corporate governance documents, including its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, are also available free of charge upon written request.

Investors and others should note that the Company may announce material financial information to its investors using its investor relations website (https://investors.mpmaterials.com/overview), SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. The Company uses these channels as well as social media to communicate with its stockholders and the public about the Company, its services and other issues. It is possible that the information the Company posts on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, the Company encourages investors, the media, and others interested in MP Materials to review the information the Company posts on the social media channels listed on its investor relations website.

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