The Pentagon is making a bold investment to shore up America’s strategic independence—in a ‘rare’ move, the Department of Defense has now become the largest shareholder in MP Materials, the operator of the only active rare earth mine in the U.S., located at Mountain Pass in southeastern California. . The multibillion-dollar deal includes massive investments and loans to fund the construction of a new “10X Facility” to manufacture high-performance magnets critical for defense systems, advanced electronics, and electric vehicles. The Pentagon also agreed to buy 100% of the magnets produced there—effectively locking in a domestic supply chain for materials that China currently dominates globally. . The 10X Facility will ramp up MP’s magnet output from 1,000 to 10,000 metric tons per year, but won’t be operational until 2028, and no construction site has been selected yet. Until then, MP continues to stockpile half its rare earth concentrate after halting exports to China due to ongoing t...