NEWS: Rare Earth Production Rises in Q4 at Molycorp's Mountain Pass Facility
February 02 2015 - 7:00AM
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. (February 2, 2015) --
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) ("Molycorp" or the "Company") today
reported that rare earth production in the fourth quarter of 2014
at its Mountain Pass, California facility increased year-on-year
and nearly doubled that of the preceding quarter.
Mountain Pass completed Q4 of 2014 with 1,328 metric tons (mt) of
rare earth oxide (REO) equivalent production. That compares to
1,034 mt in Q4 of 2013 and 691 mt in Q3 of 2014. Full year 2014
production totaled 4,785 mt, compared to 3,473 mt in 2013. Per-unit
cash production costs at Mountain Pass also declined sequentially
in Q4 of 2014.
Company officials said that the higher production volumes they
expect at Mountain Pass in 2015 should coincide with relatively
strong demand the Company is seeing for products such as the
magnetic rare earth material Neodymium/Praseodymium, Lanthanum, and
Light Rare Earth Concentrate ("LREC"). Molycorp processes
Mountain Pass LREC at vertically integrated downstream processing
facilities into a variety of value-added engineered materials,
including rare earth magnetic materials for multiple downstream
markets and vehicle emissions catalysts that consume cerium and
other materials.
The Company said that its onsite Chlor-Alkali plant at Mountain
Pass is performing well in producing hydrochloric acid ("HCl"), a
key chemical reagent used in rare earth production at Mountain
Pass. Moreover, commercial availability also has improved,
such that HCl currently is no longer a significant constraint to
production. Molycorp's Chlor-Alkali plant helps to lower cash
production costs by generating chemical reagents onsite, reducing
waste water disposal costs, and further shrinking the environmental
footprint of rare earth production.
Company officials reported that repairs of construction-related
issues with the facility's newly expanded Leach system are ongoing.
Once fully operational, that system is expected to increase rare
earth production and lower operating costs.
"We were pleased to see our production increase in the fourth
quarter relative to the preceding quarter and year-on-year," said
Geoff Bedford, President and CEO of Molycorp,
Inc. "Optimization at Mountain Pass is ongoing, but our
Q4 production demonstrates momentum in the right direction. Rare
earth pricing softened in Q4 with market uncertainty surrounding
release of final details of China's ongoing reforms to rare earth
mining, separation, and export regulatory policies. However, given
the relatively strong internal and external demand we are seeing
for many Mountain Pass products, continuing to boost production
there is a top operational priority."
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Source: Molycorp ($MCP)
For more
information:
Jim Sims, +1 (303) 843-8062
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Jim.Sims@Molycorp.com
Brian Blackman, +1 (303) 843-8067
Vice President, Investor Relations
Brian.Blackman@Molycorp.com
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 24 locations
across 10 countries, the Company produces a wide variety of
specialized products from all naturally occurring rare earths
(lights, mids, and heavies) 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.
Through its joint venture with Daido Steel and the Mitsubishi
Corporation, Molycorp manufactures next-generation, sintered NdFeB
permanent rare earth magnets. The Company also markets and sells a
line of rare earth-based water treatment products. For more
information please visit www.molycorp.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements that represent
Molycorp's beliefs, projections and predictions about future events
or Molycorp's future performance. Forward-looking statements can be
identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "would," "could,"
"should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" or the negative of
these terms or other similar expressions or phrases. These
forward-looking statements are necessarily subjective and involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors
that could cause Molycorp's actual results, performance or
achievements or industry results to differ materially from any
future results, performance or achievement described in or implied
by such statements.
Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from
expected results described in forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to: Molycorp's ability meet the standards
necessary to maintain its listing on the New York Stock Exchange or
other stock exchange, including its ability to cure any
non-compliance with such listing standards; the need to secure
additional capital to implement Molycorp's business plans, and
Molycorp's ability to successfully secure any such capital,
including the ability to successfully access the remaining
commitment under the financings with certain funds managed by
Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.; Molycorp's ability to make
interest payments on its existing debt; Molycorp's ability to repay
its debt, whether at maturity, pursuant to any acceleration, or
otherwise; Molycorp's ability to optimize production at its
Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility, which we
refer to as the Molycorp Mountain Pass facility, and the ability to
develop internal and external demand for REO and other downstream
products, including the ability to operate at commercial production
rates and competitive cash production costs, in each case within
the projected time frame; Molycorp's ability to economically
produce chemical reagents from waste water at the Molycorp Mountain
Pass facility on a consistent basis; the success of Molycorp's cost
mitigation efforts in connection with the optimization of the
Molycorp Mountain Pass facility, which, if unsuccessful, might
cause its costs to exceed budget; the final costs of Molycorp's
planned capital projects, which may differ from estimated costs;
Molycorp's ability to achieve fully the strategic and financial
objectives related to the acquisition of Molycorp Canada, including
the acquisition's impact on Molycorp's financial condition and
results of operations; unexpected costs or liabilities that may
arise from the acquisition, ownership or operation of Molycorp
Canada; risks and uncertainties associated with intangible assets,
including any future goodwill impairment charges and the ability to
develop and protect intellectual property related to products and
operations; risks associated with Molycorp's ability to protect its
intellectual property, including the infringement of intellectual
property of third parties; market conditions, including prices and
demand for Molycorp's products; Molycorp's ability to control its
working capital needs; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; the
development and commercialization of new products; unexpected
actions of domestic and foreign governments; various events which
could disrupt operations, including natural events and other risks;
uncertainties associated with Molycorp's reserve estimates and
non-reserve deposit information, including estimated mine life and
annual production; uncertainties related to feasibility studies
that provide estimates of expected or anticipated costs,
expenditures and economic returns, REO prices, production costs and
other expenses for operations, which are subject to fluctuation;
uncertainties regarding global supply and demand for rare earths
materials; uncertainties regarding the results of Molycorp's
exploration programs; Molycorp's ability to enter into additional
definitive agreements with its customers and its ability to
maintain customer relationships; Molycorp's sintered
neodymium-iron-boron rare earth magnet joint venture's ability to
successfully manufacture magnets within its expected timeframe;
Molycorp's ability to successfully integrate other acquired
businesses; Molycorp's ability to maintain appropriate relations
with unions and employees; Molycorp's ability to attract and retain
employees with the necessary experience, skills and training;
Molycorp's ability to successfully implement its vertical
integration strategy; environmental laws, regulations and permits
affecting Molycorp's business, directly and indirectly, including,
among others, those relating to mine reclamation and restoration,
climate change, emissions to the air and water and human exposure
to hazardous substances used, released or disposed of by Molycorp;
and uncertainties associated with unanticipated geological
conditions related to mining; and the outcome of the current
stockholder class action litigation and derivative litigation,
including any actions taken by government agencies in connection
therewith.
For more information regarding these and other risks and
uncertainties that Molycorp may face, see the section entitled
"Risk Factors" of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2013 and of the Company's Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q. Any forward-looking statement contained in this
release or the Annual Report on Form 10-K or the Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q reflects Molycorp's current views with respect to
future events and is subject to these and other risks,
uncertainties and assumptions relating to Molycorp's operations,
operating results, growth strategy and liquidity. You should not
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because
such statements speak only as to the date when made. Molycorp
assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these
forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons
actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in
these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future, except as otherwise required by applicable
law.
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information contained therein.
Source: Molycorp, Inc. via Globenewswire
HUG#1890837