{"id":8912,"date":"2025-10-30T02:52:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T02:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/?p=8912"},"modified":"2025-10-30T03:20:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T03:20:49","slug":"rare-earths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/rare-earths\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Earths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mountain Pass, California, is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County near the Nevada border along Interstate 15. It lies on the south flank of the Clark Mountain Range at about 4,730 feet in elevation. Before its transformation into a rare earth mining hub, Mountain Pass was part of a high desert rangeland used for cattle grazing and seasonal travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mountain<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1800s, ranchers from Ivanpah and the Mojave River region grazed cattle along the area\u2019s sparse grasslands and natural springs. By the early 1900s, a few homesteads, corrals, and line camps appeared, but permanent settlement was limited due to aridity and isolation. The nearest centers of activity were Cima and Ivanpah, tied to the Union Pacific line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 1920s and 1930s, open-range ranching declined as highway construction and mineral exploration expanded. U.S. Highway 91, built through Mountain Pass in the 1930s, connected Barstow and Las Vegas and reshaped movement across the desert. Prospectors began testing local outcrops for copper, fluorspar, and uranium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1949, while searching for uranium, geologists discovered bastnasite\u2014a mineral rich in rare earth elements. By 1952, Mountain Pass Mine was in production, marking the shift from ranching to mineral extraction. The mine\u2019s bastnasite ore, containing about 7% rare-earth oxides, proved exceptionally rich. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Mountain Pass supplied most of the world\u2019s rare earth elements, which are critical for electronics and defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental concerns and global competition, particularly from China, led to a decline in the 1990s. A series of wastewater pipeline spills and stricter regulations led to the closure in 2002. Molycorp reopened the site in 2010 but went bankrupt in 2015. MP Materials acquired it in 2017 and restarted production, now emphasizing on-site recycling and domestic refining. Mountain Pass currently produces 10\u201315 percent of global rare earth supply and remains the only major U.S. operation of its kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timeline:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late 1800s \u2013 Early cattle grazing begins between the Clark and Mescal Ranges.
1890s\u20131910s \u2013 Small ranchers and homesteaders establish corrals and wells near Cima and Ivanpah.
1920s \u2013 Ranching continues; U.S. Highway 91 construction increases access.
1930s\u20131940s \u2013 Grazing declines; mineral prospecting grows.
1949 \u2013 Bastnasite discovered while prospecting for uranium.
1952 \u2013 Mountain Pass Mine begins rare earth production.
1960s\u20131980s \u2013 Peak years; mine supplies most of the world\u2019s rare earth elements.
1980s\u20131990s \u2013 Environmental issues and foreign competition led to a decline.
2002 \u2013 Mine ceases operations.
2010 \u2013 Molycorp reopens the mine.
2015 \u2013 Molycorp declares bankruptcy.
2017 \u2013 MP Materials resumes production.
2020s \u2013 Expansion of domestic processing and magnet manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountain Pass stands as a symbol of changing desert economies\u2014from open-range cattle country to strategic mineral industry\u2014each era leaving its own traces: windmills, corrals, and open pits scattered across the Mojave\u2019s high desert plain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountain Pass, California, is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County near the Nevada border along Interstate 15. It lies on the south flank of the Clark Mountain Range at about 4,730 feet in elevation. Before its transformation into a rare earth mining hub, Mountain Pass was part of a high desert rangeland used for … Continue reading “Rare Earths”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[2187,2189,2175,453,2185,2183,2174,2197,2171,2195,2199,2191,2192,139,2196,2172,2177,2184,2194,775,2193,2186,2180,2170,2179,2176,2181,2178,2198,2173,645,2182,2190,2188],"class_list":["post-8912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-1949-discovery","tag-1952-production","tag-bastnasite","tag-california","tag-carbonatite-geology","tag-cattle-grazing","tag-cerium","tag-cima","tag-clark-mountain-range","tag-clark-mountains","tag-desert-mining-timeline","tag-environmental-regulation","tag-high-desert-heritage","tag-interstate-15","tag-ivanpah","tag-ivanpah-valley","tag-lanthanum","tag-mining-frontier","tag-modern-resource-revival","tag-mojave-desert-history","tag-mojave-economic-history","tag-mojave-minerals","tag-molycorp","tag-mountain-pass","tag-mp-materials","tag-neodymium","tag-open-range-ranching","tag-praseodymium","tag-ranching-relics","tag-rare-earth-mining","tag-san-bernardino-county","tag-u-s-highway-91","tag-u-s-rare-earth-industry","tag-uranium-prospecting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8912"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8916,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8912\/revisions\/8916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}