What is MP Materials Mountain Pass Mine? Industry leans on large San Bernardino County rare-earth mine amid growing trade war

MOUNTAIN PASS, Calif. (KABC) — Did you know that one of the largest rare earth mines in the world is in California? It’s in the San Bernardino County community of Mountain Pass — right by the 15 Freeway on the way to Las Vegas.

More than 200,000 drivers a day traverse the 15 Freeway through San Bernardino County, but as they pass Bailey Road at nearly 5,000 feet elevation, many don’t realize they’re passing a hidden gem just north of the freeway.

The MP Materials Mountain Pass Mine is one of the largest rare-earth mines in the world.

“It probably happened many billions of years ago, really, is what made this so special,” said MP Materials’ Chief Financial Officer Ryan Corbett about the open-air mine, which is nearly 500 feet deep. “It’s almost a freak of nature… The way fault lines formed here to allow the rock formations to come to the surface and have rare-earth-bearing minerals in such a concentration, and in a form that is so easily leveraged and refined with our technology, is something that you really don’t see anywhere else in the world.”

“(It’s) so close to the surface and in a form that is easily digestible, if you will, in the downstream,” he said.

There are 17 rare earth elements on the Periodic Table of the Elements, many of which exist at the Mountain Pass Mine. But the most valuable element mined there today is neodymium, which is present in nearly every piece of electronics that contains a magnet.

“Everything with motion, whether it’s a wind turbine, an electric vehicle motor, the vibration motor in your iPhone… all of that requires a neodymium magnet,” Corbett said. “And so, for the foreseeable future, that will start here in Mountain Pass.”

While the mine has existed for decades, its importance came into focus in recent months with the beginning of the Trump administration’s escalating trade war.

“In April of this year, there were export restrictions from China placed on rare-earths and rare-earth permanent magnets, and I think that brought into everyone’s consciousness how reliant we are on a single point of failure for our entire defense industrial base, and frankly, the industrial economy of the United States,” Corbett said.

The history of the mine goes back to the late 1940s, when officials with the federal government were looking for Uranium. Geiger counters used at the location indicated the presence of radioactive materials.

But while they didn’t find any uranium at the location, they did discover neodymium. While its importance might not have been clear at the time, in recent decades, the element has become invaluable.

“Every automotive factory, every aerospace and defense manufacturer, everything that we count on for the products that we use, and the jobs that put food on the table, almost all of them touch a rare earth permanent magnet in some way, shape or form,” Corbett said.

Recently, MP Materials announced a multi-billion-dollar agreement with the Department of Defense and a $500 million investment from Apple.

U.S. Representative Young Kim from Orange County recently toured the facility, watching as large trucks carried tons of material out of the mine for processing.

“When we learned that China dominates over 92% of mining and processing, and there is a critical need for the United States to really pay more attention to where are we lacking when it comes to mining and processing,” Kim said.

MP Materials estimates that the mine has another 30 years of life.

While an ounce of Neodymium has nowhere near the value of an ounce of gold, its value today is incalculable, Corbett said.

“Every single robot, and every single piece of consumer electronics, will have neodymium in it. So it’s kind of hard to put a value on ensuring that we’ve got a secure supply chain for that type of material in the United States,” Corbett said.