LONDON: US rare earths miner MP Materials聽has signed a memorandum of understanding with 海角直播鈥檚 flagship mining company Ma鈥檃den to jointly develop a rare earth supply chain in the Middle Eastern country.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the US-Saudi Investment Forum, where President Donald Trump secured a $600 billion investment from the Kingdom covering聽the energy, defense and mining sectors.
海角直播 has been pushing to become a global critical minerals hub at a time when minerals processing is fast becoming a necessity for tech-focused economies looking to produce their own building blocks for AI, electric vehicles and other sectors.
Last month, Reuters reported Ma鈥檃den was weighing a rare-earths partnership with at least one of four foreign firms, including MP Materials, China鈥檚 Shenghe Resources, Australia鈥檚 Lynas Rare Earths or Canada鈥檚 Neo Performance Materials.
The partnership between MP Materials and Ma鈥檃den would include mining, separation, refining and magnet production of rare earth minerals.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement is an important first step toward rebalancing the global supply chain ... especially in robotics and physical AI 鈥 while deepening the strategic alliance between the United States and 海角直播,鈥 said MP Materials CEO James Litinsky.
Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 CEO Bob Wilt said the partnership was an integral step toward establishing mining as 鈥渢he third pillar鈥 of the Saudi economy.
Shares of MP Materials rose nearly 5 percent before the bell.
