Molycorp was driven into the ground the moment a pipeline leading out to its evaporation ponds burst, spilling highly radioactive and toxic waste that decimated the environment, among many other serious environmental factors that compounded over decades. This was more than a decade before the final blow was dealt. The resulting crushing debt and litigation piling up “among Chinese monopolistic pricing” only dealt the final inevitable blow. There are two sides to a coin! The Chinese played a small role in Molycorps’ demise but in of itself was not the reason it went under at all. MP is barely profitable atm, history will repeat itself with the exception of the environmental catastrophes of yesteryear. Today, MP only produces SEG+ HREE concentrate and all of its concentrates including NdPr must be sent to CHINA for processing into seperated oxides. MPs SEG contains Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium and Dysprosium, which is much harder and, thus more expensive to separate into oxides than the likes of American Rare’s plans. While MP is reliant on China, the USG hedges its bets by investing in the likes of MEI with Brazil ranking as one of the most corrupt unstable nations in the world, scoring 36/100 (0 highly corrupt) - (100 very clean) 104th most corrupt nation among the Corruption Perceptions index out of 180 nations. No beuno! Lynas is building out its Texas processing plant nor can supply it with its own feedstock due to the radioactivity component. MP is struggling to build their own processing plant, time is ticking and isn’t on its side from how their books look! So what is the most likely source of the Texas plant feedstock? ARR! The scoping study suggests we can produce NdPr oxide cheaper than China Northern, American Rare has economies of scale if leveraged well particularly exploiting benefits of the IRA, we become the monopoly. This company is 90% a political play, irrespective of the numbers! We can confidently say Halleck is the largest known deposit of rare earths on Earth! "Grade may not always be king, but scale will always be Queen." China will wield their penultimate weapon and have made this publicly known. It’s only a matter of time before that axe swings and the West is cut off, it will be abrupt and devastating for the West. They simply cannot keep up with internal demand and will use this as a carrot and stick while taking Taiwan by force. (Left and Right hand) “The middle east has its oil, China has rare earths.” - Deng Xiaoping (Former CCP Chairman). It’s not 1989 anymore now, is it! I’d be “bullish” on this company even if the capex/opex were 10x - Please don’t make me laugh with veiled presumptions of “Machivallianism.” You wouldn’t understand the prince aka the dictators' playbook if you read it 100 times! I could wipe the floor with such arguments if you wish to go there! You would be living with a tin foil hat as you so succinctly put it from sheer paranoia. No beuno! This is an investment forum not a place for cheap shots. Stick to the topic and don't get personal! As they say, you reap what you sow! Better not to respond to this reply my friend unless it is on topic!
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