U.S. opens first rare earths mine in over 70 years, backed by Trump administration

U.S. opens first rare earths mine in over 70 years
The U.S. opened its first new rare earths mine in over 70 years with the Brook Mine in Wyoming, which held its ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 11, 2025. The U.S. government is to become the biggest shareholder.
Rare earths are essential to huge amounts of modern technology, such as smartphones, magnets, displays, and much more.
Access to these metals has been at the heart of a U.S.-China trade war, with Beijing currently controlling about 90% of global processing capacity.
Despite their name, they are not particularly rare in the Earth’s crust, but they are typically dispersed and difficult to extract in economically viable concentrations.
In an attempt to corner the market, China has long used government subsidies to push prices down, making rare earths mining unprofitable, forcing companies in other countries out of the business.
Rare earths refer to a group of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the 15 lanthanides (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium) plus scandium and yttrium.
Jonathan Josephs for The Beeb:
‎

MP Materials, which owns the mine, has entered into an agreement with the US Department of Defense that is designed to reduce America’s dependency on imports of rare earths.
The deal means that for the next 10 years the US government will commit to MP Materials receiving a minimum price of $110 per kg for its neodymium and praseodymium output.
These are two of the most in-demand of the 17 different rare earths for the global economy. They are crucial for making permanent magnets, which are found in everything from smartphones to MRI scanners and electric motors.
Under the agreement, MP Materials will [also] build a new US facility to increase how much of the raw materials from the mine it can turn into useable products. The location is still to be decided, but the company says it will serve both defence and commercial customers.
Much of this will be funded by the Department of Defense buying $400m of newly created shares.
“This initiative marks a decisive action by the Trump administration to accelerate American supply chain independence,” said MP Materials founder and chief executive James Litinsky.

‎
MacDailyNews Take: Apple uses rare earth elements (REEs) in several components of its products, leveraging their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties.
Key applications include:
Taptic Engine: Found in iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, this component uses recycled rare earths (e.g., neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium) to create haptic feedback that mimics physical button clicks, enhancing the user experience on touchscreens.
Magnets: REEs like neodymium and dysprosium are used in magnets across devices such as iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, and AirPods, particularly in features like MagSafe charging and accessory attachments.
Speakers and Audio Components: Elements such as neodymium are employed in the magnets of speakers like HomePod and AirPods for sound production.
Cameras: REEs contribute to the performance of camera systems, including actuators and lenses.
Displays: Lanthanum and other REEs help enhance the vivid color and quality of screens in devices like iPhones and iPads.
Apple has been increasing its use of recycled REEs, targeting 100% recycled rare earths in all magnets by the end of this year.

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post U.S. opens first rare earths mine in over 70 years, backed by Trump administration appeared first on MacDailyNews.