CEO expects first rare earth oxide shipments in current quarter.
MP Materials, a hopeful in the North American rare earth industry, has reported figures for the second quarter ended June. The operator of California’s Mountain Pass mine reported a 55 percent decline in revenue compared to the same period last year. This is attributable to the decline in prices for rare earth oxides, which were quoted at a record level at the beginning of 2022. This has a corresponding impact on profits, which are reported at $7.4 million, down 90 percent from 2022.
CEO James Litinsky, meanwhile, reports a milestone achieved in recent weeks with the refining of initial quantities of rare earths. This brings the company closer to establishing its own value chain for this critical group of raw materials. Up to now, the raw material mined in California has been processed in China. The first deliveries of neodymium-praseodymium oxide, starting material for the production of permanent magnets, are expected to be reported as early as the current quarter.
Reuters quotes from the conference call on the quarterly figures that MP Materials does not dare to make any forecasts on production in the coming year, as it is currently still working on the optimization of the production processes.
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