They are mandating record levels of consumption without doing a thing to aid supply. In the last year alone, the price of neodymium rose 74% to about $44 per pound, and the supply deficit situation is only getting more dire by the day.

That means there’s a fair opportunity for investors to reap considerable gains in the shares of mining companies that are successful in finding and developing world-class rare earth projects — particularly on North American soil.

MP Materials is a recent return of the Mountain Pass rare earths mine to space. The only rare earths mine in the US was recommissioned in 2017 after a storied history of corporate intrigue and insolvency. Clearly, the public markets love the idea of Mountain Pass and management’s Stage II and Stage III plans, as the share price has rocketed to levels at which some analysts are calling a massive short. However, let your runners run, as MP Materials is one beneficiary of the U.S. Government’s determination to create a strategic critical metals reserve and MP Materials is in the game. The Pentagon agreed to give MP Materials $9.6 million to support its U.S. national rare earth processing efforts. Reducing America’s reliance on China for rare earths is seen as being in the interest of economic and national security given the mounting tensions between China and the U.S.

A significant knock on the Mountain Pass mine however is that it produces none of the heavy rare earths, which are so critical for all of our technology nowadays. Secondly, the company is currently sending its’ production to China for processing – problematic until the company can fund and deliver on their stated future expansion plans.