molycorp

Rare-earth mining company replaces CEO amid SEC probe

Mark Smith, the chief executive of rare-earth mineral mining company Molycorp, was replaced today, a month after the company disclosed it was under a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation regarding the accuracy of its public disclosures.

Rare-earth minerals are key ingredients for mobile phones, as well as wind turbines, hybrid cars, and night-vision goggles. The vast majority of rare-earth minerals are mined in China. But Molycorp is one of a handful of Western companies hoping to elbow into that business. This summer, Smith gave CNET a tour of Molycorp's Mountain Pass, Calif., mine as part of a series on … Read more

Digging for rare earths: The mines where iPhones are born

MOUNTAIN PASS, Calif. -- About 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas, in a mine some 500 feet deep, the beginnings of an iPhone come to life.

But the sleek, shiny iPhone is far, far removed from the rocks pulled out of this giant hole, which looks like a deep crater on the moon. A very deep crater. The ground is covered with rust-colored boulders, rocks, and pebbles. The walls etched with striations in varying shades of black, are notched, every 75 feet or so, creating steps that only a giant could use to climb out of the pit.

The base … Read more

Where Molycorp mines rare earth elements (panoramas)

MOUNTAIN PASS, Calif.--Here in a hot, dusty corner of Southern California desert, a set of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table--so critical to advanced technology industries that they're a matter of national security--are being unearthed. Molycorp's rejuvinated $500 million facility, now under construction and set for completion in July 2012, will reduce the environmental impacts of the rare-earth-element-mining process and dramatically cut costs, providing a homegrown source for the elements used in so many national defense, energy, and consumer electronics products. This week, I toured the facility here, the only place in the United States that … Read more

Rare-earth miner Molycorp acquires alloy maker

Molycorp, a U.S.-based supplier of rare earth minerals, said today it has acquired a processing facility to manufacture metals for use as magnets from its minerals used in many green-technology products.

The company paid $17.5 million to Japan-based Santoku for its Arizona-based Santoku America, which has a facility that can make neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) alloys from the minerals mined at Molycorp's Mountain Pass, Calif., facility. Molycorp on Wednesday plans to host a ground-breaking event at the mine, which has been closed since the 1990s.

The acquisition gives Molycorp the ability to make some products for … Read more

Hitachi and Molycorp plan rare earth joint venture

U.S. rare earth metal supplier Molycorp today said that it is planning a joint venture with Hitachi Metals to produce rare earth metals in the U.S.

No definitive agreement has been signed but the talks envision production of neodymium-iron-boron alloys and magnets, according to Molycorp. If conditions are met, the companies could start producing rare earth magnets in the latter half of 2011.

Molycorp is in the process or reopening a mine in Mountain Pass, California to extract and process rare earth metals, which would be the only mine in the U.S.

The supply of rare earth … Read more

Rare earth element miner seeks to expand in U.S.

Many green technologies associated with energy production rely on an often overlooked resource: minerals.

Molycorp Minerals, a company with rights to mine the rare earth elements that are vital to many green technologies, said on Friday that it hopes to raise $350 million by going public on the stock market. In its S-1 document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said its operation in Mountain Pass, Calif., in the Mojave Desert is the most fully developed rare earth project outside of China.

There has been growing attention being paid to rare earth elements because most of these … Read more