RE: Colin Bird: "Abv Surface Ton TK CLOSE to that of MOUNTAIN PASS."[$11bn]29 May 2026 23:52
Spinal Tap: Good question. When you see MP Material listed on the NYSE at US$11bn at US$64.70, we must TRACE the DISCOVERY todate.
"Mountain Pass rare earth deposit was DISCOVERED in Apr 1949 by three independent gold & uranium gold prospectors, Herbert S. Woodward, Clarence Watkins & P.A Simons. In early 1949, the gov was incentivising the domestic search for radioactive nuc materials. Inspired by a lecture given by mining engineer Marty Hess, Woodward & his partners set out into the Clark Mountain Range of S.E California equipped with a G E I G E R counter. While exploring by the MOUNTAIN PASS, the Geiger counter began clicking frantically registering intense levels of radioactivity. Believing they had struck a rich vein of massive, high grade vein of uranium, the prospectors STAKED out their claims. When they sent the samples to a lab for chemical testing, it came back with tiny non-commercial amounts of uranium. Instead the high radio activity was caused by THORIUM, entirely intergrown with a heavy unfamilar mineral. That material was BASTNASITE, a rare mineral heavily saturated with LIGHT RARE EARTH elements [cerium, lanthanum, neodymium & praseodymium."
"Realising the the VALUE of the UNIQUE FIND, the prospectors SOLD their initial stakes to [known as BIRTHDAY CLAIMS] in 1950 to MOLYBDENUM CORP OF AMERICA [which became MOLYCORP]. Molycorp went on to UNCOVER the ====a d j a c e n t SULPHIDE QUEEN carbonate block, turning the site into the world's premier supplier of rare earths for FOUR DECADES. The financial backer Kasey sued Molybdeum in a landmark mining case claiming that MCA tricked them into SIGNING away the vastly RICHER Sulphide Queen block adjacent to their intial claims. The courts ruled in favour of MCA, upholding the original contracts. MCA realised the SULPHIDE QUEEN hosted the ==MASSIVE, primary DEEP carbonite body ==while the PROSPECTOR'S Birthday property hosted ==THE SURFACE VEINS.== Moly was a highly profitable mining co from its moly operations and funded the construction of the Mountain Pass floatation mill with its own balance sheet in 1952. "
"The true scale of the MCA valuation became clear in 1977 when UNOCAL purchased MOLYCORP for ==US$240M.== in 2005, the supermajor bought UNOCAL for $18bn to secure its oil and gas reserves. Cheveron inherited MOUNTAIN PASS by accident and they had ZERO interest in running an idle rare earth mine in the California desert. In 2008, a private equity group convinced Chevron to sell them the domant mine and resurrected the MOLYCORP Inc name & took the co PUBLIC on the NYSE in 2010. "
"In 2010, China dominated the global supply of rare earths and prices for metals like NEODYMIUM SHOT UP OVER 500% WALL ST WENT INTO A FRENZY and MOLYCORP MKT CAP SHOT UP to $6 BILLION. Molycorp spent $500m to build a state-of-art auto processing facility at Mountain Pass ...China opened the floodgates & rare earth prices collapsed and with Molycorp went into Ch