News Update

Politico is reporting this morning on a $3 million dollar earmark to bring the rare earth mine at Mountain Pass, California back into full production. The mine, managed by Molycorp Minerals, is reportedly “one of the world’s richest sources of elements that are used in the production of powerful magnets for precision-guided missiles and smart bombs, handheld communication devices, wind turbines and hybrid cars.” The earmark was added to the House Defense appropriations bill by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and follows a reporting requirement in the House and Senate versions of 2010 National Defense Authorization Act for the Defense Department to explore the usage of rare earth minerals in the defense supply chain (you can read the rare earths section of the NDAA at length imbedded here in a previous post).