MP Materials Corp.

Hello and welcome to the MP Materials First Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you will be given instructions for the question and answer session. Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Martin Sheehan, Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Sheehan, you may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the MP Materials first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. With me today from MP Materials are Jim Lutensky, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer, Michael Rosenthal, founder and chief operating officer, and Ryan Corbett, chief financial officer. As a reminder, today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements relating to future events and expectations that are subject to various assumptions and caveats. Factors that may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in today's presentation, earnings release, and in our SEC filings. In addition, we have included some non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in today's earnings release and the appendix to today's slide presentation. Any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA, and tons means metric tons. Finally, the earnings release and slide presentation are available on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim. Jim?

Thank you, Martin, and good evening, everyone. This past month has been one of the most consequential in our company's history. Fast-moving, challenging, deeply clarifying, and ultimately energizing. For years, we have warned that the global rare earth supply chain was built on a single point of failure. With China's sweeping tariffs and export restrictions, that geopolitical fault line has now become a commercial reality. Regardless of how trade negotiations evolve from here, the system as it existed is broken, and the rare earth Humpty Dumpty, so to speak, is not getting put back together. What is now abundantly clear is that the United States must urgently accelerate its full-scale domestic rare earth magnetic supply chain. This is not just about supply security. It is about the future of national defense with systems like drones, robotics, and other forms of physical AI, and is about securing trillions of dollars in downstream enterprise value. The events of the past month are a powerful validation of the strategy we have pursued since founding MP. I know some of you will focus on our decision to halt shipments of rare earth concentrate to China. We will speak to the near-term implications and take your questions shortly. But let me be clear. We have prepared for this moment since day one. We are now at an inflection point, not just for MP, but for the country. The vulnerabilities in global supply chains are no longer theoretical. They are central to United States economic and national security. What we are witnessing is the beginning of a generational industrial realignment. Our vertically integrated model, developed with conviction and discipline over years, has positioned MP as America's national champion in rare earth magnetics, serving as the natural partner of choice for the country's most consequential manufacturers across automotive, defense technology, consumer products, and beyond. We are confident that our business should grow to many multiples of its current scale, and recent events are accelerating that trajectory. Scaling, of course, will require significant additional capital. But here is what has changed. We are now in active discussions with major commercial and government stakeholders who recognize the urgency of this moment and are eager to accelerate our mission. Let me be direct. MP took on a mission that many believed was impossible. We assembled billions of dollars in assets, rebuilt a shattered supply chain from the ground up, and methodically invested over a billion dollars to bring rare earth refining, metalmaking, and magnetics back to the United States. Against the odds, we did what others would not or could not do. And as a result, America is in a fundamentally stronger position at such a critical time because of the dedication and vision of the MP team. From here, the equation evolves. have laid the foundation but scaling this mission requires moving in lockstep with public and private partners who understand that mp cannot and should not carry the burden of countering mercantilism alone our shareholders have backed a bold vision and they must be rewarded accordingly we will deploy capital only where the economics are compelling The partnerships are strong and the returns are substantial. And today, the opportunity in front of us has both the scale and momentum to reshape this industry and to deliver transformative value for our shareholders and for the country. Through it all, our principles remain unchanged. We will continue to execute with discipline, protect our balance sheet, and align with partners who share our long-term vision. In the intermediate term, that means executing flawlessly for General Motors, our foundational customer. I believe this will be remembered as the moment MP Materials began its transformation from a rare earth producer to a national champion and a foundational pillar of American industrial resilience. Let's now turn to slide four and go over some of the quarter's highlights. Our materials division, made up of our upstream and midstream operations, continued its strong execution with painstaking effort in the first quarter, demonstrated in part by record NDPR oxide production of 563 metric tons, a 36% sequential increase from the fourth quarter. In addition, the upstream produced its second highest quarterly production of REO in our eight-year history as our upstream 60K optimization projects continue to bear fruit with very strong recoveries in the quarter. We also continue to see strong sell-through of our midstream production with most of our 464 metric tons of NDPR oxide and metal sales continuing into Japan, Korea, and to other non-Chinese customers. Moving to the Magnetics Division, we began initial on-spec metal production for GM in the quarter. This is a significant milestone for the company and the country, as we believe this is the first NDPR metal production ever done at scale in the United States. This also resulted in us recording $5.2 million in revenue and positive adjusted EBITDA for the segment in the quarter. In addition, we provided General Motors with our first automotive grade magnets for them to begin validating. This is another important step for MP as we continue to make ever higher quality magnets on our new product introduction line. There is still a lot of work to do on the commercial production equipment, which is being installed, but we remain on track to deliver commercial production of magnets for GM by year end. These recent achievements also unlocked another $50 million customer prepayment, which was received on April 1st. With that, let me turn the call over to Ryan to go through the results of the quarter.