MP Materials starts NdFeB magnet production in Texas with DoD as top shareholder

Summary

MP Materials' Independence facility in Fort Worth, Texas commenced commercial production of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets in December 2025, marking the first US-based magnet manufacturing at scale since the 1990s. In Q1 2026, MP produced 12,983 MT of rare earth oxide at its Mountain Pass mine (up 6% year on year) and a record 917t of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) metal (up 63% year on year). The Pentagon deepened its stake on July 10, 2025, acquiring $400 million in MP equity and becoming the company's largest shareholder, plus issuing a $150 million Overseas Strategic Credit loan for heavy rare earth separation expansion. A ten-year price-floor mechanism guarantees MP $110/kg for all NdPr products, with DoD compensating any market shortfall and capturing 30% of upside above the benchmark. The planned "10X" expansion at Fort Worth would bring total US magnet capacity to 10,000t/year. China's entity listing of MP Materials on June 22, 2026 did not halt production since MP had already substantially exited Chinese input supply chains.

The split

Markets initially read the June 22 Chinese entity listing of MP as symbolic and shares rose, validating the China-independent positioning thesis (Motley Fool, Bloomberg). The SFA Oxford metals research perspective focuses on the DoD price-floor mechanism as the more consequential structural change: by making the US government the demand backstop, Washington has essentially guaranteed the economics of domestic rare earth processing for a decade, regardless of where Chinese-controlled NdPr prices trade. Critics, including Columbia SIPA analysts, note that Mountain Pass produces light rare earths but the heavy rare earth separation capacity (dysprosium, terbium) critical for high-temperature magnets is still under construction, meaning the current mine-to-magnet chain remains incomplete for the most defence-critical elements.

By the numbers

• 917t, NdPr production in Q1 2026 at Mountain Pass (record, up 63% year on year).
• 12,983t, total rare earth oxide produced Q1 2026 (up 6% year on year).
• 1,000t/year, projected NdFeB magnet capacity at Fort Worth Independence facility once ramped.
• 10,000t/year, target magnet capacity after "10X" expansion.
• $400m, DoD equity investment in MP Materials (July 2025).
• $150m, OSCP loan for heavy rare earth separation expansion.
• $110/kg, NdPr price floor guaranteed by DoD for 10 years.
• June 22, 2026, date China listed MP Materials on its export-control entity list.

Why it matters

MP Materials is the only operating rare earth mine in the United States and is now the only US-based NdFeB magnet producer. The vertical integration from mine to magnet, backed by a government price floor, directly addresses the dependency that China's export-control regime has exploited since April 2025. However, the facility remains small relative to Chinese magnet output, which stands at roughly 90% of the global high-performance magnet market. The DoD price floor model is now being studied by allied governments as a template for securing other critical mineral supply chains, per the US price-floor framework with allies.

What to watch

• Fort Worth production ramp: whether 1,000t/year nameplate is reached in 2026 or slips to 2027.
• Heavy rare earth separation expansion at Mountain Pass: timeline and scale for dysprosium/terbium processing.
• Whether the DoD price floor triggers actual compensation payments if NdPr stays above $110/kg (which it was in Q1 2026).
• The "10X" expansion financing and permitting timeline.