Industrials

US Playing Catch-Up in Rare-Earth Production: How We Got There

MP Materials stands alone as the nation’s sole active rare-earth miner and refiner.
US Playing Catch-Up in Rare-Earth Production: How We Got There
Matt Green, mining/crushing supervisor at MP Materials, displays crushed ore before it is sent to the mill at the MP Materials rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., on Jan. 30, 2020. Steve Marcus/Reuters
Wesley Brown
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Compared with China’s two state-owned rare-earth giants, United States-based companies seeking to bridge the gap between the two global superpowers still have a lot of catching up to do.

Some analysts attribute this lag to a historic lack of policy support and are hopeful that a substantial shift in this area will help narrow the divide.

Wesley Brown
Wesley Brown
Author
Wesley Brown is a long-time business and public policy reporter based in Arkansas. He has written for many print and digital publications across the country.