USA Rare Earth hits all-time high after report miner in close talks with White House

By Pooja Menon (Reuters) -USA Rare Earth shares jumped more than 18% to scale a record high on Friday, after a report that the mining company's CEO Barbara Humpton said it was in close discussions with the White House. Humpton was addressing a question about the company's potential interest in striking a deal with the Trump administration, in an interview with CNBC late on Thursday. USA Rare Earth did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Humpton's remarks follow the Trump administration taking a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and a separate 5% stake in the company's Thacker Pass joint venture with General Motors earlier this week. U.S. President Donald Trump had invoked emergency powers in March to boost domestic production of critical minerals as part of a broad effort to offset China's near-total control of the sector. China had halted exports of rare earths, a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion, in March as part of a trade spat with Trump. While that showed some signs of easing in June, broader tensions underscored the need for greater U.S. output. MP Materials had also unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with the U.S. government in July to boost output of rare earth magnets, with the defense department becoming its largest shareholder. USA Rare Earth has been developing a mine in Sierra Blanca, Texas and a neo magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which is expected to go commercial in the first half of 2026. The company is one of the more significant emerging U.S. neo magnet manufacturers and any reshoring strategy should include them, said Subash Chandra, analyst at The Benchmark Company. "We don't know what form a potential U.S. government investment can take, but there's still a missing piece to the mines to magnet strategy," Chandra said. Its shares have more than doubled so far this year, giving the company a market capitalization of $2.59 billion. (Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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