Talk:MP Materials

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August 2021 Request Edits[edit]

Hi there, I work with MP Materials and would like to propose some changes to this Wikipedia page. Can an independent editor please review these suggested edits? Except for the Infobox, all the requests for new text are shaded in green. I begin each request by specifying the text to be changed or removed, as instructed at WP: EDITXY, then give the requested language. I appreciate your review. Thank you!


REQUEST ONE

Please update the Infobox so it a) deletes old PRODUCTION figures and updates with new production figures (newly sourced); b) deletes old NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES and updates NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES and NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES YEAR (newly sourced); c) adds an additional major OWNER (James Litinsky) since he is the third largest shareholder at present. (newly sourced). Here is the exact language and citations for these specific fields in the INFOBOX.


| production = 38,500 tonnes[1]

| owner = JHL Capital Group[2]
QVT Financial LP
James Litinsky

Shenghe Resources

| num_employees = 350

| num_employees_year = 2021[3]

REQUEST TWO

In the lead, please delete the current second and third sentences:

MP Materials is majority-owned to 51.8% by hedge funds JHL Capital Group (and its CEO James Litinsky) and QVT Financial LP, while Shenghe Resources Holding Co. Ltd., a partially state-owned enterprise of the Government of China, holds an 8.0% stake.[4][5][6][7] Apart from institutions, the public owns 18%.[4]

AND INSTEAD ADD THE FOLLOWING AS THE LAST SENTENCE TO THE LEAD:

As of February 2021, about 8% of the company was owned by Shenghe Resources, a partially state-owned Chinese company.[8]


Reason: These changes make the page consistent with best practices for company articles. Of the WP:GA articles about public companies, which can be used as models because they are GA, few have anything about owners/investors of the company in the lead (see UBS Public Storage, Nokian Tyres, Mandarake, and Apollo Global Management), and none have the exact percentages of all the current major investors/owners in the lead. One or more owners/investors might be mentioned but only as part of a noteworthy event receiving news coverage, such as a takeover or the founding of the company. Examples GAs include: Chuck E. Cheese, Hochtief, Yelp. In this case, there is reliable source coverage of the ownership stake of Shenghe Resources (as discussed in the main article) so I propose keeping Shenghe in the lead as its new final sentence. This placement of the sentence at the end of the paragraph allows the lead to read consistently with the best practices format for the lead of public company GAs (about what the company does).

Since the Quartz article cited here is behind a paywall, here is the relevant excerpt of that article: 

“Hu’s speech came the same year Shenghe made one of its most significant overseas investments. It has an 8% stake in MP Materials, an American company that operates the only active rare earths mine in the US. The California mine, Mountain Pass, was bought out of insolvency in 2017 by a rescue consortium that included Shenghe—and secured the Chinese company rights to Mountain Pass’s output.”
  •  Done However, I moved the info in the lead down to the History section, since it doesn't appear elsewhere in the article and seems reasonable to have present. SpencerT•C 21:40, 13 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

REQUEST THREE

In the History section, please REWRITE the first paragraph from:

In 2015, JHL Capital Group, a Chicago-based investment firm founded by James Litinsky, acquired a controlling secured debt position in the Mountain Pass Mine and processing facilities while the assets were in bankruptcy.[9] In May 2017, JHL Capital Group led the creditor group that acquired the mineral rights to the Mountain Pass Mine out of bankruptcy via the formation of a special-purpose acquisition company called Secure Natural Resources (SNR).[10] Also, later in 2017, in a partnership with QVT Financial, JHL Capital Group formed MP Mine Operations (MPMO) (dba MP Materials) to acquire the Mountain Pass Mine and operating facilities as well as other assets on the site that were owned by Oaktree, another bankruptcy creditor.[11] At the time, Mountain Pass was in a state of “care and maintenance” and had only eight employees, according to Litinsky.[3]

TO:

In 2015, Molycorp, the previous owners of the Mountain Pass mine, filed for bankruptcy. At the time, it was the only U.S. producer of rare earth elements.[12] While in bankruptcy, Secure Natural Resources (SNR), a company owned by Molycorp’s creditors, including JHL Capital Group, gained control of the mine’s mineral rights.[13] In June 2017, the Mountain Pass mine was purchased at auction for $20.5 million by a new entity called MP Mine Operations LLC (MPMO).[14] MPMO was a consortium formed principally by JHL Capital Group, a Chicago-based investment firm led by James Litinsky, along with QVT Financial LP and Shenghe Resources.[3] Shenghe, a partially state-owned Chinese company, held a minority, non-voting interest.[15]


Reason: Clarifies and corrects the history of the creation of MP Materials. Uses sources from articles from The Wall Street Journal and The Las Vegas Review-Journal to detail how MP Materials came into existence. The sources for these sentences as they are presently on Wikipedia are from a press release and a government document.

Since the WSJ articles are behind a paywall, here are the relevant sentences: 

“Molycorp Inc. filed for protection from creditors, becoming the biggest corporate failure in a bleak year for miners hit by slumping commodity prices and waning demand from their biggest customer, China.
The Greenwood Village, Colo., company, the sole U.S. miner and producer of rare earth elements, said on Thursday it had secured an agreement with creditors to restructure its $1.7 billion in debt, and obtained $225 million in new financing to continue operations. It expects to have a court-approved restructuring plan by the end of the year.”


“California’s Mountain Pass mine, the sole significant developed source for crucial rare earths electronics elements in the U.S., is destined to go on the auction block in March, according to papers filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.
Up for sale is land and some equipment at the mine, according to court papers. Mineral rights at the site belong to an entity called Secured Natural Resources LLC, which is owned by creditors of the mine’s former owner, Molycorp Inc., including JHL Capital Group LLC.”


“Less than a year after the bankruptcy trustee threatened to have Mountain Pass mine’s case dismissed, it is to be sold for $20.5 million, a price that Judge Christopher Friday’s court hearing in Wilmington, Del., called ‘an excellent result’ for an asset that had proved tough to sell.”

REQUEST FOUR

In the second paragraph of the History section, please DELETE the following sentence:

“The transaction, which closed on November 17, 2020, raised $545 million to fund its three-stage business to create a vertically integrated rare earth magnet supply-chain in the United States.”

REPLACE WITH:

The transaction, which closed on November 17, 2020, raised $545 million.[16]

‘’Reason’’: Existing version of this sentence is based on a press release, which does not conform to the WP:RS policy guidelines for acceptable sources. This version also removes extraneous detail not present in the new secondary source.

REQUEST FIVE

In the section ‘Mountain Pass mine’, please change the sentence that begins:

“MP Materials produced 28,000 tonnes of rare-earth oxide equivalent from Mountain Pass in 2019, and 38,000 tonnes in 2020...”

TO:

MP Materials produced 28,000 tonnes of rare-earth oxide equivalent from Mountain Pass in 2019, and 38,500 tonnes in 2020, or more than 15% of global production.[1]

Reason: The actual amount of rare earth removed in 2020 is inaccurate on Wikipedia (should be 38,500.) Note that I have added a secondary source and removed the primary source as the citation. The secondary source is correct and preferred.

REQUEST SIX

In the section ‘History’, subsection ‘Mountain Pass mine’, please REWRITE the last sentence from:

Shenghe Resources is the sole buyer of MP Materials' rare earth concentrate.[17]

TO:

As of late 2020, Shenghe Resources was the sole purchaser of MP Material’s rare earth concentrate.[18][19]

Reason: Sets a date for this statement so it doesn’t sound perennial. The first source says “currently” and the second source, a redundant PRIMARY given for research purposes, also says that MP “currently rel[ies]” on Shenghe. (page 9).

Here’s the relevant text from the Quartz article (which is paywalled): 

“The California mine, Mountain Pass, was bought out of insolvency in 2017 by a rescue consortium that included Shenghe—and secured the Chinese company rights to Mountain Pass’s output.
According to MP’s listing prospectus filed last October, Shenghe is currently the firm’s principle source of revenues as the sole buyer of MP’s rare earth concentrate, which Shenghe sends to China for processing.”

REQUEST SEVEN

In the section “ ‘U.S. government contracts’, please replace:

“Following that award, on November 17, 2020, the Department of Defense announced that MP Materials was awarded a Defense Production Act Title III technology investment agreement, which includes a $9.6 million contribution to the company’s Stage II optimization plan to establish domestic processing capabilities for light rare earth elements.”

WITH:

In November 2020, the United States Department of Defense awarded MP Materials $9.6 million as part of a government effort to increase domestic production of rare earth materials.[20][21]

Reason: The current sentence is sourced only to a press release from the DOD. The replacement statement is sourced with an acceptable WP: RS.

REQUEST EIGHT

In the section ‘U.S. government contracts’, please add a second paragraph:

MP Materials received $3 million in funding from the United States Department of Energy in 2021[3] to design and study the feasibility of a system to produce rare earth oxides and metals from coal by-products in collaboration with the University of Kentucky.[22]

Reason: Describes a significant government grant (sourced to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, a reliable mainstream source) to study turning a fossil fuel byproduct into a valuable commodity. Government-funded research is a noteworthy event in the company’s history.


Thanks for your review. Tmy350 (talk) 18:35, 20 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: Poor formatting. Quetstar (talk) 16:18, 22 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

'Note: I’d ask that the initial “Not Done” here be given no weight. Quetstar has now bowed out of working on all REs, after an editor complained that they rejected virtually all REs with little rationale or explanation, Quetstar said "I admit I've gone overboard with my responses and rash attitude. I am going to take a break from this, as COI requests have been consuming my patience.". Wikipedia_talk:Edit_requests#Issues with editor reviewing Requested Edits). Tmy350 (talk) 00:07, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Format changes: simplified requested changes to Infobox; added green background to all proposed language. Includes specific instructions for changing/deleting X to Y in every request, as instructed in WP: EDITXY. Returned this to the Request Edit queue. Tmy350 (talk) 20:46, 26 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hi @Tmy350: Please add the {{edit COI}} template to each individual request. It will make it easier for editors to review them individually rather than as a whole. The easier you make it for volunteer editors, the more likely they are to respond. S0091 (talk) 19:40, 28 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@S0091: I wanted to let you know that I implemented the formatting change as you recommended. Given this, do you have time to do a review of these requests? Thank you for your consideration.Tmy350 (talk) 20:18, 13 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the suggestion, but wouldn’t adding the template seven times result in this article showing up seven times on the Request Edit queue? I looked over many Request Edits with multiple asks and all of them seem to have only one {{edit COI}} template at the top. Examples are Talk:Muscular_Dystrophy_Association#requestedit, Talk:America's Health_Insurance Plans#2021 COI edit requests, Talk:Freddy Wexler#COI edit requests to address remaining flags Tmy350 (talk) 21:04, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I have added the “Request Edit” templates above each request, since it looks like lots of the new requests in this queue are following that format. Tmy350 (talk) 23:39, 24 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Tmy350 sorry for the delay, I have fully or partially implemented your edit requests as described per above. Thank you providing references and quotes for paywalled references, it made it much easier to verify all of your proposed additions. Best, SpencerT•C 21:40, 13 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Spencer: Thanks very much for your review. Regarding Requests #2 and #3, part of my rationale was to correct inaccuracies regarding the ownership percentages as had been represented in the lead and which have now moved down to the History section. The exact percentages that had been given (and are still in the History section) are incorrect, as is the conclusion that JHL Capital Group holds a majority stake. In fact, JHL holds ~23.6%, followed by QVT Financial at ~11.3%, and MP Materials Chairman and CEO James Litinsky at ~9.47%, with Shenghe at ~7.72%. [1]
If Wikipedia is going to list the major shareholders in the lead, then I think it should say JHL, QVT, and James Litinsky are the three largest shareholders, plus Shenghe because its stake has been deemed newsworthy by reliable sources. Also, to keep this article accurate and in line with WP:NOTNEWS, I suggest simply listing the three largest shareholders at a fixed point in time without giving exact percentages since this routinely fluctuates as shares are bought and sold on the public market. (It makes sense to list Shenghe with their current percentage of 7.72%, because its stake has been deemed newsworthy).
Similarly, in the History section, the statement that JHL, Litinsky, and QVT owned 51.8% of MP Materials is inaccurate (the actual collective total of these three is 44.37% as of December 16, 2021 [2]), but this routinely fluctuates as shares are bought and sold on the public market.
To simplify things, I suggest using the same language both for the closing of the lead and for the final paragraph of the History section. Here is a suggested replacement sentence that could be used in both places that is accurate and durable:
As of December 2021, JHL Capital Group, QVT Financial and CEO James Litinsky were the company’s three largest shareholders, with about 7.7% of the company owned by Shenghe Resources, a partially state-owned Chinese company.[23]
Thanks again! Tmy350 (talk)
 Done SpencerT•C 22:37, 16 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Spencer: Thank you very much for updating the History section. Would it be possible to update the final sentence in the lead as well, so it matches the correct information in the body of the article/history section? The current final sentence in the lead is incorrect. JHL was the largest shareholder in February, but did not hold a majority stake in February (or now). I think the cleanest solution is to mirror the statement in the lead with that of the history section. Thanks again for working through this and updating the page for accuracy! Tmy350 (talk) 16:04, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Tmy350 You are approved to go ahead and make the requested change. Best, SpencerT•C 22:09, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Spencer I have made the update to the lead and left a note in the Edit Summary that this was authorized by you. Thanks again for your help with updating this article. Happy new year. Tmy350 (talk) 19:07, 29 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ a b Zhou, Jackie (9 May 2021). "US seeks to challenge China on rare-earth elements, key ingredients in Biden's energy plan". Fox Business. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Could The MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Ownership Structure Tell Us Something Useful?". Simply Wall Street. Simply Wall Street. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Hudson, Sabrina (29 May 2021). "Mine near Las Vegas produces much of world's rare earth materials". Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b "MP Materials Corp. (MP)". Market Screener. Annecy, France: Surperperformance. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  5. ^ Xie, John (December 31, 2020). "California Mine Becomes Key Part of Push to Revive US Rare Earths Processing". Voice of America. Archived from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  6. ^ Hui, Mary (February 5, 2021). "The US is taking steps towards breaking China's rare earths monopoly". Quartz. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  7. ^ "Shenghe Resources Holding Co. Ltd: Shareholders Board Members Managers and Company Profile". MarketScreener. Retrieved 2021-02-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Hui, Mary (February 19, 2021). "A Chinese rare earths giant is building international alliances worldwide". Quartz. Retrieved July 13, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Molycorp, Inc. Signs Restructuring Support Agreement With Key Creditors; Agreement Covers More Than 70% of 10% Secured Noteholders". GlobeNewswire. June 25, 2015. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  10. ^ "US Bankruptcy Court Order". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  11. ^ "JHL, QVT, Shenghe Win Mountain Pass Mine Auction". Wall Street Journal. June 14, 2017. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  12. ^ Miller, John W.; Zheng, Anjie (25 June 2015). "Molycorp Files for Bankruptcy Protection". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  13. ^ Brickley, Peg (1 February 2017). "California's Mountain Pass Mine to be Auctioned in Bankruptcy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  14. ^ Brickley, Peg (23 June 2017). "Mountain Pass Mine Approved for Sale to JHL, QVT, Shenghe". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  15. ^ Topf, Andrew (16 June 2017). "Mountain Pass sells sells for $20.5 million". Mining.com. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  16. ^ Gupta, Ruchi (19 November 2020). "Is MP Materials Stock a Good Investment?". Market Realist. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  17. ^ Hui, Mary (February 19, 2021). "A Chinese rare earths giant is building international alliances worldwide". Quartz. Retrieved March 16, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Hui, Mary (February 19, 2021). "A Chinese rare earths giant is building international alliances worldwide". Quartz. Retrieved July 13, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "MP Materials Corp Form S-1 Registration Statement". Security and Exchange Commission. 9 December 2020. p. 9. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  20. ^ "U.S. rare earths miner MP Materials profit surges in first results post listing". Reuters. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  21. ^ "China May Ban Rare Earth Tech Exports on Security Concerns". Bloomberg News. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  22. ^ "DOE awards #3M to MP Materials for project to extract rare earths from fossil fuel waste streams". Green Car Congress. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  23. ^ "MP MATERIALS CORP. (MP)". MarketScreener. Retrieved 16 December 2021.

March 2022 Request Edits Proposal[edit]

Hi, I have other suggestions to update this article. I have a conflict of interest as an employee of the company, as disclosed above. Here are my suggestions. @Spencer: Since you are already familiar with this article from the last round of RE reviews, I was wondering if you might be interested in taking a look at these requested edits.

REQUEST ONE

In the History section, please add a new paragraph after the third paragraph (just above the “Mountain Pass mine” subsection):

In December 2021, MP Materials signed a long-term agreement with General Motors to provide neodymium-iron-boron magnets for use in GM electric vehicle motors.[1] As part of the contract, MP Materials also agreed to provide alloy and finished magnets to GM for its electric vehicles[2] and to open a new factory located in Fort Worth, Texas to produce the magnets.[3]

Reason: This development received substantial business press coverage in high-quality sources.

REQUEST TWO

In the History section, please add the following new paragraph just above the “Mountain Pass mine” subsection:

In February 2022, President Joe Biden announced at a press conference that the United States Department of Defense was investing $35 million into MP Materials as part of an effort to spur domestic rare earth production in the United States.[4][5] Biden said that this move was designed to reduce America’s almost 100% reliance on rare earth minerals imported from other countries.[6][7] The Biden Administration said the federal funding is earmarked to assist the company to develop a new commercial facility for “heavy” rare earth mineral processing.[5]

Reason: This development was important enough news that President Biden announced it personally at a press conference. It received substantial press coverage in quality reliable sources.

REQUEST THREE

In the History section, “Mountain Pass mine” subsection, please add the following photo by pasting the following code directly below the subsection title:

Reason: This photo of the Mountain Pass mine can give readers additional visual context to augment the discussion of the mine in the text of this subsection.

Thanks very much for your consideration. Tmy350 (talk) 19:24, 1 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Tmy350 requests 1 and 2 are done; for 2 I put that in the "U.S. government contracts" section, as it seemed to be more related.
For 3, did you personally take the aerial photograph of the mine? If so, let me know; if not (i.e. this was a company photo), please follow the instructions at Commons:Volunteer Response Team: see the section on "I am an employee of the copyright owner" is the most likely scenario for you if you did not take the photo but want to have the correct copyright information. If this is not a company photo or a photo you took, do you have permission from the copyright owner to use this file? I have marked this request as answered for now; once you have replied to #3 (and addressed any copyright things if necessary), please re-open this request by removing the "|A" from {{request edit}} SpencerT•C 01:15, 2 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Spencer: Thank you for your review! You’re right, I’m an employee of MP Materials, the copyright owner. I’ll send the email as instructed. The image is live on Commons and I’m sure the response team will remove it if there are any problems. Would you mind putting it up on Wikipedia in the meantime? Do you even hear back from them if there are no questions? I don't think I would know when to alert you there's been a review since the image is already live on Commons. Tmy350 (talk) 19:33, 2 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not too familiar with the nuts and bolts of the OTRS process but I don't imagine the image being deleted immediately, so there's no need to upload here. There are other companies that have done this before so I don't think it will be a problem, but I believe once approved they will put some kind of tag on the image indicating that it was verified (see here for an example). If you have specific questions, I believe that [3] would be the correct place to ask those. SpencerT•C 03:22, 3 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
@Spencer: I had some email dialogue with Commons volunteers and express permission has been added to the image file page. Are you able to now post the image? Thanks again. Tmy350 (talk)
 Done Tmy350 thanks for handling that! SpencerT•C 12:52, 16 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Root, Al (9 December 2021). "GM Keeps Building Up Its EV Supply Chain. Here's the Latest Deal". Barrons. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  2. ^ Stankiewicz, Kevin (9 December 2021). "MP Materials CEO says GM partnership key to building EV supply chain in U.S." CNBC. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  3. ^ "GM reaches supply deals for electric vehicle motor magnets". AP. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  4. ^ Scheyder, Ernest; Holland, Steve (22 February 2022). "Biden voices support for new U.S. mines, if they don't repeat past sins". Reuters. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b Ronayne, Kathleen (22 February 2022). "Biden wants to cut into China's electric battery dominance". AP. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  6. ^ Gangitano, Alex (22 February 2022). "Biden says mineral supply chain actions will help end foreign reliance". The Hill. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  7. ^ Coppola, Gabrielle (26 February 2022). "Biden Bets on U.S. Battery Independence". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
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