MP Materials soars on Saudi Arabia rare earth joint venture

[Ben Graham]

MP Materials (NYSE: MP) has teamed up with the US Department of War (DoW) to form a joint venture in Saudi Arabia with Maaden, the kingdom’s flagship mining company, to build a rare earth refinery. Shares of the company rose.

The formation of this joint venture, said MP in a press release Wednesday, represents “a pivotal step toward rebalancing the global rare earth supply chain and aligns with US economic and national security interests.”

The company is currently the only fully integrated producer of rare earth materials in the US, with operations centered around its Mountain Pass mine and processing facility in California and magnet production site in Texas.

The joint venture announcement comes a day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to invest $1 trillion in the US, further deepening the commercial ties between the two nations.

Shares of MP Materials jumped by 8.2% during the early hours of trading on the news, taking the Las Vegas-based miner’s market capitalization to nearly $11 billion.

Gina Rinehart becomes MP Materials’ top shareholder

Public-private partnership

The Saudi JV builds on the multi-billion-dollar public-private partnership that MP and DoW announced in July 2025 to bolster America’s rare earth supply chain and reduce its reliance on China, which dominates the market with a 60% share of mine supply and almost all of the processing capacity.

Under that partnership, MP plans to invest as much as $1 billion to significantly expand the US rare earth refining and magnet manufacturing capacity in the coming years. Amongst the key investments will be the development of a second magnet manufacturing facility in the US and an expansion of its heavy rare earth separation capabilities at Mountain Pass.

Prior to the DoW partnership, MP had signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia to develop a rare earths supply chain in the kingdom, from mining to magnet production. That agreement was signed during the US-Saudi Investment Forum 2025 in Riyadh.

Saudi JV

The rare earth refinery JV extends America’s economic and security ties with Saudi Arabia. It leverages the kingdom’s competitive energy base, world-class infrastructure, strategic location and significant untapped rare earth resources, the parties said in a statement.

Once built, the facility will process rare earth feedstock sourced from the kingdom and other global regions and produce significant quantities of separated light and heavy rare earth oxides. The refined products will support US and Saudi manufacturing and defense sectors and be marketed to allied nations.

Under the deal, MP and the DoW, through a joint venture, will hold a combined 49% stake, with Maaden retaining no less than 51%. The DoW will provide full financing for the US contribution, while MP will contribute its technical expertise in rare earth separation and refining. The company said it is also in discussions to support or collaborate on magnet manufacturing in Saudi Arabia.

“We are honored that the US government asked MP to partner on a project of this magnitude and importance for America and its allies,” MP Materials founder and CEO James Litinsky stated in a press release. “The formation of the joint venture also underscores MP Materials’ role as an American national champion, and it demonstrates how our fully integrated platform can project US industrial capability abroad.”