Rare Earth Magnetic Materials Customers Will Not be Impacted; Company Plans to Continue to Serve Rare Earth Oxide Customers Via Its Production Facilities in Estonia and China Depressed Rare Earth Pricing a Key Factor in Decision to Suspend Production
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Aug. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Molycorp, Inc. (OTC:MCPIQ) ("Molycorp" or the "Company") announced today that it will transition its Mountain Pass Rare Earth Facility to a "care and maintenance" mode while it plans to continue serving its rare earth oxide customers via its production facilities in Estonia and China. Customers of the Company's rare earth magnetic materials, as well as its rare earth-based water treatment products, will not be impacted.
Rare earth production at the Mountain Pass facility will be suspended no later than October 20, 2015, and the site, including idled machinery and equipment, will be maintained to ensure it remains in a safe and stable condition, and that government regulatory commitments can be met. Rare earth pricing, which has declined dramatically over the past four years, was a key factor in the decision to suspend rare earth production at Mountain Pass, Company officials said. Molycorp is being advised by the investment banking firm of Miller Buckfire & Co. and is receiving financial advice from AlixPartners, LLP. Jones Day and Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor LLP act as legal counsel to the Company in this process. For additional information about Molycorp, please visit
www.molycorp.com. For information regarding the Chapter 11 case, please visit
https://cases.primeclerk.com/molycorp.
About Molycorp, Inc. Molycorp is the only advanced material manufacturer in the world that both controls a world-class rare earth resource and can produce high-purity, custom engineered rare earth products to meet increasingly demanding customer specifications. With production facilities on three continents, the Company produces a wide variety of specialized products from rare earth elements and five rare metals (Gallium, Indium, Rhenium, Tantalum and Niobium). The Company produces rare earth magnetic materials through its Molycorp Magnequench subsidiary, including neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnet powders, used to manufacture bonded NdFeB permanent rare earth magnets. The Company also markets and sells a line of rare earth-based water treatment products