Rare earth stocks jumped in Thursday trading. MP Materials up 52%; NioCorp Developments up 19%; Energy Fuels up 17%; USA Rare Earth up 12%.

MP Materials announced a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense to accelerate the build-out of an end-to-end U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain and reduce dependency on foreign sources.

The Pentagon will become MP Materials' largest shareholder after agreeing to buy $400M of a newly created class of preferred shares that are convertible into MP Materials’ common stock, and will buy a warrant that allows it to purchase additional common stock in the company.

The convertible shares and the warrant for common stock would represent a ~15% stake in MP Materials as of July 9.

"With a multibillion-dollar package of investments and long-term commitments from DoD," MP Materials said it will construct the company's second domestic magnet manufacturing facility - the "10X Facility" - at a soon-to-be-chosen location to serve defense and commercial customers.

Once the new facility is completed, expected to begin commissioning in 2028, the company's total U.S. rare earth magnet manufacturing capacity would reach ~10,000 metric tons.

MP Materials said it also expects to add additional heavy rare earth separation capabilities at its Mountain Pass, California, facility.

"This initiative marks a decisive action by the Trump administration to accelerate American supply chain independence," MP Materials (MP) Founder, Chairman and CEO James Litinsky said.