Molycorp

Molycorp Inc. is an American mining corporation headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.^[1] The corporation, which was formerly traded on the New York Stock Exchange,^[2] owned the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California. It filed for bankruptcy in June 2015 after changing competitive circumstances, declining prices on output and a 2014 restructuring.

History

The Molybdenum Corporation of America bought the Mountain Pass mining claims, and began production in 1952. The Molybdenum Corporation of America changed its name to Molycorp in 1974. The corporation was acquired by Union Oil in 1977, which in turn became part of Chevron Corporation in 2005. In 2008, Chevron sold the mine to privately held Molycorp Minerals LLC, and on July 29, 2010, Molycorp, Inc. became a publicly traded firm by selling 28,125,000 shares at $14 in its IPO. The shares trade under the ticker symbol MCP on the NYSE.

In June 2012, Molycorp acquired the Canadian-based company Neo Material Technologies Inc.^[3]

Rare Earth Metals

Mountain Pass mine

The company’s principal asset is the Mountain Pass rare earth mine, which once supplied the majority of the world’s rare earth elements (REEs). The mine was previously owned by Unocal. The mine closed in 2002, but reopened in 2010, and in February 2012 the start-up of new rare earth manufacturing was to begin.^[4]

The mine has attracted increased attention in recent years as rare earth elements had become increasingly in short supply.^[5] China, the world’s leading supplier of REEs in 2010, had restricted production and exports since 2006.^[6]

International business

In December 2010, Japanese firms Sumitomo and Mitsubishi signed agreements to be supplied with rare earths by Molycorp.^[7] US-based fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst manufacturer W.R. Grace & Co. similarly signed a supply agreement with Molycorp in November 2010.^[8] Molycorp was to supply W.R. Grace & Co. with an undisclosed amount of lanthanum and cerium, essential components for FCC catalyst manufacturing through 2015.^[8]

Molycorp additionally owns one of the few processing plants outside China—Molycorp Silmet—that it had purchased in Estonia in 2011.^[9]

Controversy

In November 2012, the company announced that it was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the accuracy of the Company’s public disclosures.^[10] In June 2013, Molycorp Inc. said the SEC has completed the investigation and has not recommended any enforcement action.^[11]

In December 2012, it was reported that the CEO, Mark Smith, had resigned and that the board, giving no reasons for the resignation, had replaced him with Constantine Karayannopoulos, the former vice chairman of the board, as interim CEO.^[12][13]

In December 2013, Geoff Bedford, a 14-year rare-earth industry veteran and former Chief Operating Officer replaced Constantine Karayannopoulos as CEO of the company.

Bankruptcy

The "long-struggling" company filed for bankruptcy protection in late June 2015, the culmination of "one of the most dramatic commodities busts in recent years". It also at the same time announced an agreement "with major creditors to restructure its $1.70 billion debt load".^[14] In 2014, with the company facing heavy capital needs and lower prices in the China-dominated market, Oaktree Capital Group had won the bidding to provide up to $400 million of senior restructuring finance. Apollo Global Management—which lost out in the 2014 bidding—and others held junior obligations at risk of substantial loss in the 2015 bankruptcy while Oaktree's $260 million high-interest-rate outstanding was considered relatively secure.^[15]

References