INSIDE SCOOP: Follow the Money-Rare Earth Leaders

Highlights

• MP Materials COO Michael Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares at ~$56.62, committing nearly $1 million of personal capital in a strong insider buy signal.
• CEO James Litinsky's trust realized ~$46.4 million in gross proceeds from MP Materials sales between April and May 2026, yet still holds over 12 million shares.
• Van Eck and Global X together hold over 32 million Energy Fuels shares, reflecting growing institutional conviction in U.S. critical mineral supply chains.
• MP Materials' lawsuit against USA Rare Earth signals the sector is maturing into commercial relevance, complete with patent disputes and courtroom battles.
• While U.S. rare earth companies fight each other in Texas court, China continues coordinating integrated mining, separation, and magnet manufacturing ecosystems.

America's rare earth race is entering a new chapter. Washington is accelerating support for domestic rare earth element and critical mineral supply chains. China continues to dominate processing, separation, and magnet manufacturing. Investors are searching for winners. But beyond the headlines, Rare Earth Exchanges™ watches a simpler signal: where insiders and institutional capital are actually moving.

MP Materials: A Tale of Two Filings

Recent SEC filings at MP Materials present an intriguing contrast.

On May 20, Chief Operating Officer Michael Rosenthal purchased 17,000 shares on the open market at approximately $56.62 per share, committing nearly $1 million of personal capital. Insider purchases of this size often attract attention because executives typically buy for one reason: they believe the stock offers value.

Meanwhile, Chairman and CEO James Litinsky continues to monetize a portion of his holdings. SEC Form 4 filings disclosed actual sales of roughly 300,000 shares during May 12–13. Subsequent Form 144 notices disclosed plans to sell an additional 350,000 shares. Even so, Litinsky's trust still controls more than 12 million shares.

Based on the SEC filings reviewed, James Litinsky's trust reported approximately $46.38 million in gross proceeds from completed sales of MP Materials shares between April 17 and May 27, 2026.

The reported transactions were:

• April 17, 2026: $2.61 million gross proceeds
• April 20, 2026: $16.59 million gross proceeds
• May 12, 2026: $8.09 million gross proceeds
• May 13, 2026: $11.54 million gross proceeds
• May 27, 2026: $7.54 million gross proceeds

Separately, SEC Form 144 filings dated May 27 and May 28 disclosed Litinsky's intention to sell an additional 150,000 shares and 200,000 shares, respectively. The filings estimated aggregate market values of approximately $9.78 million and $13.22 million. Because Form 144 is a notice of proposed sale rather than confirmation of execution, these amounts should not be counted as realized proceeds unless subsequent filings confirm the transactions occurred.

If fully executed at approximately the values disclosed, the proposed sales would represent an additional $23.0 million in potential gross proceeds, bringing total gross proceeds from both completed and proposed transactions to approximately $69.4 million.

Importantly, despite these sales, Litinsky's trust continued to hold more than 12 million MP Materials shares, indicating that he remains one of the company's largest shareholders.

Note that $46.4 million sounds large in dollar terms, but relative to a remaining position of over 12 million shares, the sales represent only a small fraction of Litinsky's economic exposure to MP Materials. That context is important because readers often interpret insider sales more negatively than the underlying ownership data justifies.

The filings do not necessarily point to conflicting views. Founder diversification and executive accumulation can occur simultaneously. What stands out is that both men remain heavily exposed to MP's future.

Energy Fuels: Institutions Keep Building Positions

At Energy Fuels, the more revealing story may be institutional ownership.

Van Eck reported beneficial ownership of approximately 15.6 million shares, representing 6.48% of the company. Global X disclosed ownership of roughly 16.7 million shares, or 6.83%. Together, those positions exceed 32 million shares.

Meanwhile, Energy Fuels elevated Nathan Longenecker to Executive Vice President of Global Government Relations, a title reflecting how closely rare earths, uranium, and critical minerals are becoming intertwined with national industrial policy.

The REEx Take

The signal today is not insider flight. Rather, it is the gradual institutionalization of America's critical minerals sector. Capital is consolidating around a small group of companies attempting to build strategic supply chains outside China. The question for investors is no longer who can mine rare earths. It is who can separate them, refine them, convert them into metals and magnets, and do so at commercial scale. That’s the big question. When looking at the current cast of characters, MP Materials, despite its own challenges we have covered (and will delve into more), continues to be the lead horse in the U.S. race toward rare earth resiliency.

Note MP Materials just sued USA Rare Earth, introducing the next chapter of the rare earth race in America.

The lawsuit itself remains unproven, and investors should avoid assuming either side is right until the facts emerge in court. But the broader significance is difficult to ignore: America's rare earth industry may finally be arriving. Every major industry eventually graduates from press releases and conference panels to patent disputes, employment battles, contract fights, and courtroom warfare. In a country where some joke that litigation is the national pastime, perhaps it was only a matter of time before the rare earth sector got its own legal drama. There is a dark irony here: while China coordinates vast industrial ecosystems across mining, separation, metals, and magnets, America's emerging champions are now battling each other in Texas court.

If nothing else, the lawsuit suggests the sector is becoming commercially relevant enough that the stakes—and the lawyers—have finally shown up.