Molycorp, owner of the world’s largest rare-earth deposit outside of China, said rival mining companies have approached the Greenwood Village-based firm seeking investment in their projects after prices for the minerals surged.
“Typically, they’re junior companies that might be one-project companies or they tend to be smaller with less than a handful of projects,” Molycorp chairman Ross Bhappu said.
The companies, which he declined to identify, are located “all over the world, from Africa, Australia, Canada, the U.S., South America,” Bhappu said Wednesday from Seville, Spain. “The real focus for us is, rather than acquiring, better evaluation and expansion of what we have on our own property.”
Molycorp plans to increase production capacity at its Mountain Pass mine in California, which it restarted in December, to 40,000 tons a year by late 2013 or early 2014, Bhappu said.
Prices for rare-earth minerals, a group of 17 elements used in renewable energy, magnets, electric cars and weapons, have jumped since July, when China said it would cut export quotas by more than 70 percent.
China produced about 97 percent of the world’s supply in 2009, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Molycorp stock more than tripled since it completed an initial public offering in July. On Thursday, shares gained 15 cents to $46.99 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
