Rare earth metals producer Molycorp Inc has obtained the required permit to start developing a mining and manufacturing centre in California. The $531 million facility in Mountain Pass will see the company break ground on January 2, 2011.
The company hopes to begin mining ore by next year. The folks at Molycorp expect the facility to reach full capacity by the end of 2012. Colorado-based Molycorp, Inc. is the only rare earth oxide, or REO, producer in the Western hemisphere and own the world’s largest, most fully developed rare earth project outside of China.
Stocks of the company went up by 7.4 % making shares reach $33.62 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has already begun pre stripping operations after winning the state approval for altering a streambed. This was the last of the several environmental permits that were needed for the project.
The project will create about 700 jobs in the 18 month construction period. At the end of which between 200 to 300 jobs will be created on a permanent basis to run the newly created facility as per company management.
Last week the Sumitomo Corp trading house from Japan decided to invest $130 million in the Greenwood Village based company for a guaranteed 7 year supply of rare earth minerals. These are critical components of electronic gadgets and renewable energy resources.