American rare earths specialist MP Materials has opened its first processing plant in the U.S., located in Fort Worth, Texas. The factory, called Independence, has one core mission: reduce America's reliance on Chinese rare earth magnets. The magnets are used in everything from iPhones and fighter jets to medical devices and electric vehicles. General Motors is a foundational partner of MP Materials, although it doesn't own an equity stake in the company. The automaker is planning to slowly install U.S.-made rare earth magnets across its EV portfolio in North America. MP Materials will start delivering production-grade rare earth neodymium-iron-boron (NdFb) magnets to GM by the end of this year. It's unclear how quickly GM will install them in its vehicles. It's still an important development, as last year, China's export controls on rare earth magnets sent U.S. companies in panic mode. 

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