Highlights
- MP Materials demonstrates the most comprehensive rare earth infrastructure, spanning mining, processing, and emerging magnet manufacturing in the U.S.
- Achieving rare earth independence requires coordinated public, private, and policy-driven actions, not just individual company efforts.
- The strategic goal is developing a fully integrated rare earth supply chain that reduces dependence on China through comprehensive industrial policy and investment.
A recent comparison between MP Materials (opens in a new tab) (NYSE: MP) and Idaho Strategic Resources (opens in a new tab) (NYSE American: IDR) is circulating among retail investors, highlighting both firms as key to U.S. critical mineral independence. But beneath the surface of market caps and Zacks Rankings lies a more complex question. Who actually has what it takes to help America break free from China’s rare earth dominance? But even this question set by Zacks is flawed.
The Zacks analysis frames the challenge as a competition between individual companies, when in reality, no single firm can secure U.S. rare earth resilience alone. By reducing a national strategic imperative to a stock comparison, Zacks steers retail investors away from the far more critical question: what coordinated public, private, and policy-driven actions are actually required to break free from China’s rare earth dominance?
On to a review of the recent Zacks comparison (opens in a new tab).
Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) emphasizes that overcoming the current rare earth element (REE) crisis is not the task of any single company. It requires a coordinated effort, driven by strategic industrial policy, public-private investment, and long-term supply chain planning and execution. The challenge of the REE supply chain presupposes an integrated, dynamic supply chain involving upstream, midstream, and downstream advancements. That being said, MP Materials is clearly one of the lead “ex-China” players to understand and watch. See the Rare Earth Exchanges Insights NdPr Project/Deposit Ranking Database for an example of a company ranking for NdPr.
Supply Chain Coverage–Only One Fully Connects the Dots
MP Materials has a clear advantage in infrastructure and integration. From mining and separation at Mountain Pass to midstream processing and nascent magnet manufacturing in Fort Worth, MP is the only U.S. firm with visible traction across the rare earth value chain. With its halt on concentrate shipments to China and a pivot toward exporting finished products to Japan and South Korea, MP is attempting to de-risk its geopolitical position while deepening its domestic capacity. However, the company’s continued dependence on legacy contracts with Shenghe, high production costs, and muted earnings raises questions for some analysts about its commercial resilience in a volatile pricing environment.
IDR, meanwhile, remains in the early innings of rare earth development. While it holds one of the largest rare earth element (REE) land packages in the U.S. and a promising thorium footprint, it is primarily a gold producer. Its REE projects—Lemhi Pass, Diamond Creek, and Mineral Hill—are exploratory, lacking processing infrastructure or commercial-grade mineral flowsheets. The recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Clean Core Thorium Energy is noteworthy but speculative. IDR offers geological potential, not supply chain execution.
What the Zacks Analysis Misses
The Zacks piece leans heavily on earnings per share and gold-driven revenue to evaluate IDR, while glossing over the critical gap. There is no separation, refining, or magnet-making in IDR’s business model. That is no trivial matter.
In contrast, MP’s downstream integration—even if costly—is essential for end-to-end rare earth independence. Investors should also note the report omits mention of metallurgical risk, permitting timelines, and regulatory hurdles for IDR’s REE properties, any of which could stall progress for years.
What about the growing demand for heavy rare earths such as Dy and Tb? Heavy rare earths (Dy, Tb) are essential for defense and high-temperature magnets. Although the MP majority focuses on light-REE dominant, the California mines’ heavy rare earth concentrate contains an array of medium and heavy rare earth elements (opens in a new tab) vital for advanced material applications. Produced as a solid oxalate or oxide powder, this basket product provides a flexible foundation for downstream separation and refinement, enabling the development of cutting-edge technologies in energy, aerospace, electronics, and beyond.
IDR has not published sufficient geochemical data to assess the viability of heavy REE.
Potential vs. Production
For risk-tolerant investors chasing long-term upside on undeveloped REE land, IDR may offer optionality. But for those seeking exposure to real throughput and rare earth oxide volumes in 2025—not just hope and drill results—MP, an American treasure trove, is the only U.S. company even close to full-cycle production.
REEx urges investors to recognize that direct comparisons between companies like MP Materials and Idaho Strategic can miss the larger point: achieving rare earth independence from China is not a stock-picking contest—it’s a national strategic imperative.
While firms like MP will play vital roles, market forces alone are unlikely to deliver a secure, fully integrated supply chain. What’s needed is a deliberate blend of industrial policy, targeted incentives, public-private coordination, and geopolitical resolve.
Importantly, retail investors should consider this broader context when developing their investment thesis in the sector.
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