We are past the halfway mark of the year, which in political speak means we have four months until the midterm election and only five months in the remainder of this Congress – possibly the last fully controlled by Democrats during President Biden’s first term in office.

MP Materials Corp. began construction of its first rare-earth metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The factory is a substantial component of a $700 million investment the company will make over the next two years to restore the U.S. rare-earth magnetics supply chain. The project will create around 150 high-skill jobs and 1,300 indirect jobs. MP Materials’ Fort Worth facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 1,000 metric tons of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets per year, supporting the production of approximately 500,000 EV traction motors. In addition to EVs, NdFeB magnets are critical inputs to robots, wind turbines, drones, defense systems and many other high-growth technologies.

Welcome to the nonferrous issue. In February, our goal is to ferret out content focused on anything but steel.