General Motors and MP Materials (earlier post) have formed a strategic collaboration to develop a fully integrated US supply chain for rare earth magnets. Under the long-term agreement, MP Materials will supply US-sourced and manufactured rare earth materials, alloy and finished magnets for the electric motors used in the GMC HUMMER EV, Cadillac LYRIQ, Chevrolet Silverado EV and more than a dozen models using GM’s Ultium Platform, with a gradual production ramp that begins in 2023.

Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets are critical inputs that enable electric motors to transform electricity into motion. Although development of permanent magnets began in the US, there is virtually no domestic capacity to produce sintered NdFeB magnets today. This strategic collaboration seeks to accelerate the restoration of the US rare earth supply chain at commercial scale with high resiliency and environmental sustainability.

MP Materials owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California, the only active and scaled rare earth production site in America. Rare earth materials sourced from Mountain Pass will be transformed into metal, NdFeB alloy and magnets at a new production facility MP Materials today announced it will build in Fort Worth, Texas, delivering an end-to-end US supply chain.

GM and MP Materials have signed a binding agreement on terms and expect to enter into a definitive supply agreement shortly. In addition, the two companies will look to engage collaboratively from a public policy perspective to seek policies that are supportive of the establishment of a secure, US rare earth supply chain.

We are building a resilient and sustainable EV manufacturing value chain in North America, from raw materials to cell manufacturing to electric drive motors and beyond, further accelerating GM’s vision to support a mass market for EVs. Our work with MP Materials is another bold step forward that will help ensure that we meet our goal to lead the EV industry in North America in more than just sales.

—Shilpan Amin, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain

MP’s domestic supply chain spanning California and Texas will provide certainty of provenance, supply and sustainability. Mountain Pass is a closed-loop, zero-discharge rare earth production facility with a dry tailings process that recycles more than 1 billion liters of water per year.

To optimize for efficiency and sustainability, waste generated during MP’s rare earth alloy and magnet manufacturing will be recycled back into the process. GM and MP Materials will also explore the potential to further optimize production efficiency and conserve natural resources through novel recycling approaches based on end-of-life, closed-loop principles.

GM is investing $35 billion in EV and autonomous vehicle (AV) product development by 2025; the company will launch more than 30 EVs globally through 2025, and sell more than 1 million EVs globally by 2025. GM is rapidly scaling EV manufacturing, with more than 50 percent of North America and China plants capable of EV production by 2030.

MP Materials is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. MP Materials produced approximately 15% of the rare earth content consumed in the global market in 2020.