| Type | Public (NYSE: MCP) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Headquarters | Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States |
| Key people | Mark A. Smith, Chief executive officer James S. Allen, Chief financial officer |
| Products | Rare earth elements |
| Website | www.molycorp.com |
Molycorp Inc. is an American mining corporation headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. [1] The corporation, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange,[2] owns the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, a currently inactive mine which it proposes to reopen in 2011.
The company’s principal asset is the Mountain Pass rare earth mine, which once supplied the majority of the world’s rare earth elements (REEs). The mine has attracted increased attention in recent years as rare earth elements have become increasingly in short supply.[3] China, now the world’s leading supplier of REEs, has restricted production and exports since 2006.[4]
In December 2010, Japanese firms Sumitomo and Mitsubishi signed agreements to be supplied with rare earths by Molycorp.[5] US-based fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst manufacturer W.R. Grace & Co. similarly signed a supply agreement with Molycorp in November 2010. [6]. Molycorp will supply W.R. Grace & Co. with an undisclosed amount of lanthanum and cerium, essential components for FCC catalyst manufacturing through 2015. [7]
Molycorp additionally owns one of the few processing plants outside China that it had purchased in Estonia in 2011. [8]