Earlier today, Molycorp announced that Dr. Stanley Trout will join the company as its Director of Magnet Manufacturing, effective October 1, 2010.
Stan has been a successful consultant in the magnet industry for the past ten years, under the banner of his Spontaneous Materials consulting business. He previously worked for a number of magnet companies in the USA and even for Molycorp itself in a prior incarnation. Stan is therefore very well-qualified for his new role.
In addition to restarting the production of separated rare earth products from its Mountain Pass mine in California, a critical component of Molycorp’s business strategy is the production of rare-earth-based permanent magnets and magnet alloys. To date there has not been a lot of detail on this aspect of their game plan, beyond proposals to work with an unnamed third party magnet materials manufacturer.
The addition of Stan to the Molycorp team is a smart move on their part, and perhaps today’s announcement is the first in a series that will clarify the approach that the company plans to take in order to execute its strategy.
Congratulations Stan!
There was some hint of Molycorp’s mine to magnetic strategy in the preliminary prospectus regarding magnetics. I admit though that I was most interested in how they were going to handle the issue of water. I was impressed with their solutions to the various problems regarding water. And I discovered that some rare earths such as cerium can be used to clean water. The company has developed a patented process to clean water.
It may be argued that we are entering the age of water. Salt water is increasing and fresh water is decreasing. There is more polluted water and less clean water. It is critical that fresh water be protected in the rare earths industry.
It seems to me that the difference between a mine to metals and a mine to magnetics strategy might be one of scale and expertise. It may be though that they have more in common than they have as differences. Perhaps a mine to magnetics company might look to a mine to metals company. The commonality is metallics.
Comments on this entry are closed.