MP Materials selects suburban Dallas site for factory

Las Vegas-based MP Materials has selected a site in Northlake, Texas, about 45 miles northwest of Dallas, as the location of its planned United States rare earth elements (REEs) and magnetic materials manufacturing campus.

The company says its $1.25 billion investment at the 120-acre site will create more than 1,500 jobs and “dramatically expand domestic manufacturing capacity and strengthen America’s rare earth magnet supply chain independence

MP says the light and heavy rare earth raw materials necessary to support what it is calling its 10X manufacturing plant will be sourced from MP’s processing facility in Mountain Pass, California, and that scrap from Texas magnet production will be reintegrated into MP’s “short-loop and long-loop recycling circuits in Texas and California, tightening circularity and cost performance across the platform.”

The company says its commercial relationships include long-term commitments from end users of rare earth magnets, including General Motors and Apple.

Those companies, says MP, want to “build an innovative rare earth recycling and magnet production system, reflecting broad confidence among leading industrial and consumer technology manufacturers in the strength and reliability of a fully integrated U.S. production platform.”

Once operational, the new campus is expected to contribute to MP’s total production capacity of approximately 10,000 metric tons of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) rare earth magnets per year.

MP says it anticipates breaking ground “imminently,” and that engineering and equipment procurement is underway, with the plant’s commissioning targeted for 2028.

A press release issued by MP Materials spells out government grants and incentives from the state of Texas that will contribute to the plant’s construction, and refers to the 10X facility as “a cornerstone of MP’s previously announced public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of War.”