Al Root
Shares of the rare-earth producer MP Materials rose on Monday in another sign that America isn't counting on supplies from China.
MP stock was up 4.3% in midday trading at $57.32, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
The move came after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, bringing him to the U.S. to face criminal charges. Both energy and defense stocks leapt in response.
Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves -- roughly 300 billion barrels -- and produced more than 3.5 million barrels a day in the late 1990s. But following decades of underinvestment, sanctions and political interference at the state oil company, production has fallen to less than one million barrels a day.
But MP, the largest producer of rare-earth metals in the Western Hemisphere, is moving, too. Venezuela also has undeveloped reserves of rare-earth metals, wrote Fundstrat's Kent Fung on Monday.
"Trump touched only briefly on rare earths in his remarks, but geologists strongly believe Venezuela also has vast stores of various rare-earth and critical minerals," added Fung. "The potential for extracting such riches from Venezuelan soil has been barely (and inefficiently) tapped, and what little has been tapped has generally ended up in China."
The Defense Department invested in MP in July, essentially providing capital, price floors, and offtake agreements, which dramatically reduced MP's financial risk profile.
China currently dominates the market for rare-earth materials with an estimated 85% of global processing capacity. President Donald Trump has made it a priority to build a domestic rare-earth supply chain.
MP is as well-positioned as anyone to capitalize on a change in Venezuelan mining policies. That is what investors seem to be thinking right now, anyway.
Shares of other rare earth companies are on the move, too. USA Rare Earth stock is up 9% at $15.42. Shares of Ramaco Resources were up 6% at $19.83.
Both of those companies are developing mines in the U.S.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 05, 2026 14:24 ET (19:24 GMT)
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