MP Materials Corp (MP) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the MP Materials fourth quarter 2024 earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

您好，歡迎參加 MP Materials 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）另外，提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。如果您有任何異議，請立即斷開連接。

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Martin Sheehan, Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Sheehan, you may begin.

接下來，我想將電話轉給投資人關係主管馬丁希恩 (Martin Sheehan)。希恩先生，您可以開始啦。

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the MP Materials fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。歡迎參加 MP Materials 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。

With me today from MP Materials are Jim Litinsky, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Rosenthal, Founder and Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Corbett, Chief Financial Officer.

今天與我一起的還有 MP Materials 的創辦人、董事長兼執行長 Jim Litinsky；羅森塔爾 (Michael Rosenthal)，創辦人兼營運長；以及財務長 Ryan Corbett。

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.

提醒一下，今天的討論將包含與未來事件和預期有關的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受各種假設和警告的影響。今天的簡報、收益報告和我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中都包含了可能導致公司實際結果與這些聲明有重大差異的因素。

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 to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA, and tons means metric tons.

此外，我們在本報告中也納入了一些非公認會計準則財務指標。在今天的收益報告和今天的幻燈片簡報的附錄中可以找到與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表。我們討論中提到的 EBITDA 均指調整後的 EBITDA，噸指公噸。

Finally, the earnings release and slide presentation are available on our website.

最後，收益報告和幻燈片簡報可在我們的網站上查閱。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim. Jim?

說完這些，我會把電話轉給吉姆。吉姆？

Thanks, Martin. Hello, everyone. Let's get started on slide 4. MP had a terrific year of execution in 2024 across our Materials and Magnetics divisions. We set a new record by producing 45,455 metric tons of REO during the year, 9% higher than in 2023.

謝謝，馬丁。大家好。讓我們從第 4 張投影片開始。2024 年是 MP 材料和磁性元件部門執行力極為出色的一年。我們全年生產了 45,455 公噸稀土氧化物 (REO)，創下了新紀錄，比 2023 年高出 9%。

I want to remind you that production progress is rarely linear. We are continuously implementing new equipment and processes as we advance Upstream 60K. This should lead to further improvements over the next year, but along the way, there may be occasional instability and downtime as we implement these enhancements.

我想提醒你，生產進度很少是線性的。隨著上游 60K 的推進，我們正在不斷實施新設備和新製程。這將在明年帶來進一步的改進，但在此過程中，我們在實施這些增強功能時可能會出現偶爾的不穩定和停機。

That said, we are extremely pleased to maintain strong concentrate product profitability as we expand production and optimize the upstream business.

儘管如此，我們非常高興在擴大生產和優化上游業務的同時，保持了強勁的濃縮產品獲利能力。

Moving on to midstream operations, we produced 1,294 metric tons of NdPr oxide in 2024, well above last year's total of 200 tons. In Q1, we are targeting over 20% sequential growth in production. Similar to our upstream business, we expect to make a lot of progress in the coming quarters. This means rapid but methodical growth in production while we also make process improvements and capture efficiencies. We remain confident that we will reach gross margin profitability in our midstream operations in the very near-term.

在中游業務方面，我們在 2024 年生產了 1,294 公噸氧化镨釹，遠高於去年的 200 噸總量。第一季度，我們的目標是產量較上季成長 20% 以上。與我們的上游業務類似，我們預計未來幾季將取得巨大進展。這意味著我們在改善流程、提高效率的同時，產量能夠快速且有條不紊地成長。我們堅信，我們的中游業務將在短期內實現毛利率獲利。

As we scale, we continue to see growing ex China demand for our separated products. In 2024, we signed new agreements with the Department of Defense for both NdPr and lanthanum. We also added a top five global automaker for a substantial direct volume commitment of NdPr. This means we now supply three of the five largest non-China automakers in the world.

隨著我們規模的擴大，我們不斷看到中國以外地區對我們分離產品的需求不斷增長。2024 年，我們與國防部簽署了有關镨釹和鑭的新協議。我們還增加了全球五大汽車製造商，以獲得大量 NdPr 的直接供應承諾。這意味著我們現在為全球五大非中國汽車製造商中的三家提供產品。

Moving on to our Magnetics division, we achieved two critical milestones in the fourth quarter. First, we started producing NdPr metal at Independence, the first time rare earth metal has been commercially produced in the United States in at least a generation.

談到我們的磁性元件部門，我們在第四季度實現了兩個關鍵的里程碑。首先，我們開始在獨立工廠生產镨釹金屬，這是至少一代以來美國首次實現稀土金屬商業化生產。

This achievement resulted in a second $50 million customer prepayment in late December, bringing our total prepayments to $100 million for the year. We expect to attain an additional $50 million prepayment in the next few months along with additional tax credits, which Ryan will cover in a moment.

這項成就促使我們在 12 月底獲得了第二筆 5,000 萬美元的客戶預付款，使我們全年的預付款總額達到 1 億美元。我們預計在未來幾個月內將獲得額外的 5000 萬美元預付款以及額外的稅收抵免，Ryan 稍後將介紹這些內容。

The second significant milestone we achieved was initiating trial production of automotive-grade magnets in the new product introduction facility at Independence. This factory within a factory enables us to rapidly manufacture and validate magnets on the same, albeit smaller, equipment we will use to manufacture at scale beginning in late 2025. This represents a major step towards scaling production for GM by year-end.

我們實現的第二個重要里程碑是在獨立城的新產品引進工廠啟動汽車級磁鐵的試產。這個工廠內的工廠使我們能夠在相同的設備（儘管尺寸較小）上快速製造和驗證磁鐵，我們將於 2025 年底開始使用該設備進行規模生產。這意味著通用汽車朝著年底前擴大生產規模邁出了重要一步。

Moreover, MP now makes magnets at Independence that meet the rigorous performance requirements necessary for EV drive motor applications, which are essentially the most demanding specs by far.

此外，MP 現在在 Independence 生產的磁鐵可滿足電動車驅動馬達應用所需的嚴格性能要求，這基本上是迄今為止最苛刻的規格。

Therefore, successfully producing high-quality magnets for that kind of application demonstrates that MP possesses the intellectual execution and production capabilities to be a solution provider for a wide range of critical applications. As the world races to secure the building blocks of physical AI, such as robots, drones, or even eVTOL, the United States of America now has a champion in MP that can provide a domestic supply chain solution for rare earth magnets.

因此，成功生產出適用於此類應用的高品質磁鐵表明 MP 擁有成為廣泛關鍵應用的解決方案提供者的智力執行和生產能力。當世界各國競相爭奪機器人、無人機甚至 eVTOL 等實體人工智慧的建構模組時，美國現在在 MP 領域擁有了領先者，可以為稀土磁體提供國內供應鏈解決方案。

Lastly, during the year, we continued to judiciously manage our balance sheet, pushing out the vast majority of our debt maturities to 2030 while retiring a little over 90% of our 2026 notes at a discount. These transactions allowed us to buy back 8.6% of our outstanding shares at an average price of $14.76.

最後，在這一年中，我們繼續審慎管理我們的資產負債表，將絕大多數債務到期日推遲到 2030 年，同時以折扣價償還了略高於 90% 的 2026 年票據。這些交易使我們能夠以平均 14.76 美元的價格回購 8.6% 的流通股。

With that, let me now turn it over to Ryan to go through our financials and KPIs. Ryan?

現在，讓我將話題轉交給 Ryan，讓他來介紹一下我們的財務狀況和 KPI。瑞安？

Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. Before diving into the details, I wanted to note that with the company making modest deliveries of magnet precursor products in Q1, we are providing additional segment-level financial disclosures with this earnings release and our 10-K filing expected next week. Our two reportable segments are Materials and Magnetics.

謝謝，吉姆，大家下午好。在深入討論細節之前，我想指出的是，由於公司在第一季度適度交付了磁鐵前驅體產品，我們將在本次收益報告和預計下週發布的 10-K 文件中提供額外的分部級財務披露。我們的兩個報告部門是材料部門和磁性部門。

The Material segment consists of our upstream and midstream businesses at Mountain Pass and includes our concentrate and separated rare earth product sales. The Magnetic segment encompasses our operations at Independence and initially consists of magnetic precursor product sales. With a commercial start of magnet production on track for year-end, we will add revenue derived from those sales in 2026.

材料部門包括我們位於 Mountain Pass 的上游和中游業務，包括精礦和分離稀土產品的銷售。磁性部門涵蓋我們在獨立城的業務，最初包括磁性前驅體產品銷售。隨著磁鐵商業化生產預計在年底啟動，我們將在 2026 年增加這些銷售產生的收入。

Additionally, we report corporate expenses and other costs as a reconciling item to our consolidated adjusted EBITDA.

此外，我們將公司費用和其他成本作為合併調整後 EBITDA 的調節項目報告。

These costs primarily consist of unallocated overhead, legal and HR expenses, and the other usual corporate support functions, including executive compensation. While not a reportable segment under GAAP, this category is the bridge between our segment adjusted EBITDA totals and our consolidated adjusted EBITDA.

這些成本主要包括未分配的間接費用、法律和人力資源費用以及其他常見的公司支援職能，包括高階主管薪酬。雖然根據 GAAP，該類別不是可報告的分部，但它是我們分部調整後 EBITDA 總額與合併調整後 EBITDA 之間的橋樑。

Lastly, I would point out that in 2024, 100% of our revenues and cost of sales were generated in the Material segment. Magnetics costs are primarily located in the SG&A and advanced projects portions of our consolidated P&L ahead of deliveries of saleable product in 2025.

最後，我想指出的是，到 2024 年，我們的 100% 收入和銷售成本都來自材料部門。磁性材料成本主要位於我們合併損益表中的銷售、一般及行政費用以及 2025 年交付可銷售產品之前的高級項目部分。

So, let's start on Page 6 with our full year consolidated financial results. The revenue trend over the last three years has been driven mainly by NdPr pricing. The average price of NdPr was about $120 per kilogram in 2022, $75 per kilogram in 2023, and roughly $55 per kilogram last year. Currently, the market price is approximately $60 per kilogram.

那麼，讓我們從第 6 頁開始看一下我們的全年綜合財務表現。過去三年的收入趨勢主要受镨釹定價的影響。2022 年镨釹的平均價格約為每公斤 120 美元，2023 年為每公斤 75 美元，去年約為每公斤 55 美元。目前，市場價格約為每公斤60美元。

The decline in realized pricing falls straight to the bottom-line in a commodity business like our Material segment, which you can see in the consolidated EBITDA trend.

實際定價的下降直接影響到我們材料部門等大宗商品業務的底線，您可以從合併 EBITDA 趨勢中看到這一點。

Also impacting our 2024 results was the ramp in production of separated products, primarily NdPr oxide. As we have talked about throughout the last year, our production costs for separated products are temporarily elevated as we continue to optimize our processes and ramp production levels towards our targeted throughput. And as NdPr oxide production volumes ramp, we are consuming more REO from the upstream circuits to produce separated products, supplanting otherwise highly profitable concentrate sales.

分離產品（主要是氧化镨釹）產量的增加也對我們 2024 年的業績產生了影響。正如我們去年所討論的那樣，隨著我們不斷優化流程並提高生產水平以達到目標產量，我們分離產品的生產成本暫時上升。隨著镨釹氧化物產量的增加，我們正在從上游迴路消耗更多的稀土氧化物 (REO) 來生產分離產品，取代原本利潤豐厚的精礦銷售。

Lastly, you can see the flow-through of the decline in adjusted EBITDA to adjusted diluted EPS on the far right chart. EPS was also impacted by higher depreciation from capital assets placed into service in the Materials and Magnetics segments over the last two years, as well as higher interest expense from our new 2030 convertible notes, partially offset by a larger tax benefit in 2024.

最後，您可以在最右邊的圖表中看到調整後 EBITDA 下降至調整後稀釋每股盈餘的變化。每股盈餘也受到過去兩年材料和磁性元件部門投入使用的資本資產折舊增加以及我們新的 2030 年可轉換票據的利息支出增加的影響，但 2024 年的更大稅收優惠部分抵消了這一影響。

Turning to slide 7, this is our usual slide showing the KPIs for what is now our Materials segment, with the metrics on the left reflecting our upstream performance and on the right relating to the midstream. As Jim mentioned, on the far left, you can see our record-setting concentrate production of 45,455 metric tons in 2024, which was our fourth consecutive year over 40,000 tons. Our performance in the back half of 2024 gives us confidence in continued modest production growth in 2025.

轉到幻燈片 7，這是我們的常用幻燈片，展示了現在的材料部門的 KPI，左側的指標反映了我們上游的績效，右側的指標反映了中游的績效。正如 Jim 所提到的，在最左邊，您可以看到我們 2024 年創紀錄的精礦產量為 45,455 公噸，這是我們連續第四年超過 40,000 噸。我們在 2024 年下半年的表現讓我們對 2025 年產量持續適度成長充滿信心。

The decline in REO sales volume shown on the left-hand side of the page is driven by our ramp in the production of NdPr oxide shown on the right. Realized prices per metric ton of REO moved in tandem with NdPr pricing, as you would expect.

頁面左側顯示的 REO 銷售量下降是由於我們右側顯示的 NdPr 氧化物產量增加所致。正如您所預料的，每公噸稀土氧化物 (REO) 的實際價格與镨釹 (NdPr) 的價格同步變動。

Our sales of NdPr, 1,142 metric tons in 2024, moved generally in-line with NdPr production with a short lag, which will ebb and flow based upon shipping schedules and the mix of metal versus oxide sales. On the far right, you can see our average price for NdPr sales for the year.

我們的 NdPr 銷售量在 2024 年為 1,142 公噸，與 NdPr 產量基本保持一致，但存在短暫的滯後，並將根據裝運時間表以及金屬與氧化物銷售的組合而起伏。在最右邊，您可以看到我們全年銷售的 NdPr 平均價格。

On slide 8, the financial results for the Materials segment for the past three years are displayed on the left, and the Magnetics segment results are shown on the right. With our updated segment disclosures, investors can now get a better sense of Mountain Pass' favorable cost position in the industry, as well as our significant investments in the Magnetics segment over the past few years.

在第 8 張投影片上，左側顯示了過去三年材料部門的財務業績，右側顯示了磁性部門的業績。透過我們更新的分部揭露，投資人現在可以更了解 Mountain Pass 在業界的有利成本地位，以及我們過去幾年在 Magnetics 部門的重大投資。

For Materials, the revenue trends are in-line with my prior comments on our consolidated results. Regarding Materials segment adjusted EBITDA, you can now see the earnings power of the Mountain Pass operation on a standalone basis. 2024 results reflect both our shift from selling concentrate to consuming it, which would have a temporary negative impact in any pricing environment and the pronounced pullback in market pricing for our products.

對於材料而言，收入趨勢與我先前對我們綜合業績的評論一致。關於材料部門調整後的 EBITDA，您現在可以獨立地看到 Mountain Pass 業務的盈利能力。 2024 年的業績反映了我們從銷售濃縮物向消費濃縮物的轉變，這會在任何定價環境中產生暫時的負面影響，並且我們產品的市場定價將明顯回落。

Additionally, the numbers account for the early production phases of NdPr, cerium, and lanthanum products, operating below one-third of our target throughput while incurring costs associated with labor, maintenance and infrastructure that is needed to run at full capacity. With our continued progress on ramping our midstream volumes as well as firmer pricing, we look forward to an improved 2025.

此外，這些數字代表了镨釹、鈰和鑭產品的早期生產階段，其產量低於目標產量的三分之一，同時也產生了滿載運作所需的勞動力、維護和基礎設施相關成本。隨著我們在提高中游產量和鞏固定價方面不斷取得進展，我們期待 2025 年取得更好的成績。

The Materials segment adjusted EBITDA loss of $14.1 million was driven primarily by the items outlined in the consolidated discussion. These results also reflect a $21.5 million write-down of inventory during the year, partially offset by a $12.2 million credit related to the Section 45X Tax Credit for NdPr oxide production.

材料部門調整後的 EBITDA 虧損 1,410 萬美元，主要由於合併討論中概述的項目所致。這些結果也反映了本年度 2,150 萬美元的庫存減記，部分被與第 45X 節 NdPr 氧化物生產稅收抵免相關的 1,220 萬美元抵免所抵消。

You can also see on the right that the Magnetics segment adjusted EBITDA loss has grown as we continue to invest in staff ahead of initial production. We now have north of 100 employees in this segment, and we will likely double that number over the next two years as we ramp magnet production.

您也可以在右側看到，由於我們在初始生產之前繼續對員工進行投資，Magnetics 部門調整後的 EBITDA 損失有所增加。目前，我們在這個部門擁有 100 多名員工，隨著磁鐵產量的提高，未來兩年內，這個數字可能會翻倍。

As part of our segment results, we also now break out capital expenditures between Materials and Magnetics. On the left, you can see that the capital expenditures in Materials have dropped meaningfully over the last two years as we wrapped up our midstream optimization and recommissioning efforts.

作為我們分部績效的一部分，我們現在也列出了材料和磁性元件之間的資本支出。在左側，您可以看到，隨著我們完成中游優化和重新調試工作，材料方面的資本支出在過去兩年中大幅下降。

And on the right, you can see the fairly steady spend on Independence beginning in April 2022 when we broke ground. In 2024, capital expenditures for the consolidated company totaled $186.4 million, decreasing over $75 million year-over-year. I'll provide our 2025 CapEx expectations in just a moment.

在右側，您可以看到從 2022 年 4 月破土動工開始，在獨立項目上的支出相當穩定。2024年，合併後公司的資本支出總計1.864億美元，較去年同期減少7,500萬多美元。我馬上就會提供我們 2025 年資本支出預期。

Moving to slide 10, and our quarterly consolidated financial metrics. Revenue climbed 48% year-over-year to $61 million, driven by the ramp in sales of separated rare earth products, primarily NdPr. And in the middle of the slide, you can also see that the ramp in initial subscale production of separated products continued to impact EBITDA, added the continued growth in Magnetics. On the far right, similar to the full year, we have the flow-through of the change in EBITDA impacting adjusted diluted EPS, as well as higher depreciation and interest expense on a year-over-year basis.

前往第 10 張投影片，以及我們的季度合併財務指標。營收年增 48% 至 6,100 萬美元，這得益於分離稀土產品（主要是镨釹）銷量的成長。在投影片的中間，您還可以看到分離產品的初始小規模生產的增加繼續影響 EBITDA，並增加了 Magnetics 的持續成長。最右邊，與全年類似，我們有影響調整後稀釋每股收益的 EBITDA 變化的流通量，以及同比更高的折舊和利息支出。

Moving to slide 11. On the left, REO production increased 24% year-over-year, setting a record for a quarter with a planned maintenance outage. This also drove the 9% increase in REO sales volumes. Realized pricing strengthened slightly sequentially in-line with our outlook, but was down 16% compared to last year. And as we look at Q1, we expect sequential REO realized pricing to be roughly flat with Q4, assuming current market prices hold.

移至第 11 張投影片。左側，REO 產量年增 24%，創下計畫停產維護季度的最高紀錄。這也推動了 REO 銷售量成長 9%。實際定價與我們的預期一致，環比略有走強，但與去年相比下降了 16%。展望第一季度，假設當前市場價格保持不變，我們預期 REO 連續實現價格將與第四季大致持平。

On the right side of the slide, you can see that NdPr production was solid at 413 metric tons. Sales volumes in the quarter were quite strong and roughly in-line with the prior quarter's production. And lastly, NdPr pricing improved sequentially in-line with our expectations.

在幻燈片的右側，您可以看到 NdPr 的產量穩定在 413 公噸。本季的銷售量相當強勁，與上一季的產量大致持平。最後，NdPr 的價格按照我們的預期連續上漲。

As we look at Q1, similar to REO realized pricing, we expect sequential pricing for NdPr to be relatively flat with Q4, assuming current market prices hold, subject to the puts and takes of delivery timing and contract terms.

回顧第一季度，與 REO 實現定價類似，我們預計 NdPr 的連續定價將與第四季度相對持平（假設當前市場價格保持不變），但要受到交貨時間和合約條款的影響。

Moving to slide 12. I discussed the revenue trends on the consolidated slide, and as I mentioned earlier, despite our production costs for separated products being temporarily elevated, we were able to offset that headwind as well as most of the segment's SG&A costs with continued profitable sales of REO as EBITDA for the quarter came in at negative $1.3 million.

移至投影片 12。我在合併幻燈片中討論了收入趨勢，正如我之前提到的，儘管我們分離產品的生產成本暫時升高，但我們能夠通過繼續盈利的 REO 銷售來抵消這一不利因素以及該部門的大部分銷售、一般及行政費用，因為本季度的 EBITDA 為負 130 萬美元。

These results also reflect a $6.4 million write-down of inventory in the quarter, mostly related to lanthanum, as well as an offsetting $8.4 million Section 45X credit in part due to the favorable final rulemaking by the IRS in October.

這些結果也反映了本季 640 萬美元的庫存減記，主要與鑭有關，以及 840 萬美元的第 45X 條抵免額，部分原因是 10 月份美國國稅局 (IRS) 制定了有利的最終規則。

Importantly, looking ahead to 2025, as we further ramp production, we continue to have clear line of sight to gross profit and sales of NdPr, which as you can see from Q4's results, should return our Materials segment to profitability. And on the right, you can see the modest investment in operating costs in our Magnetics segment. Again, importantly, we will begin booking modest revenue in Q1 and expect to turn EBITDA positive in this segment in the first half of the year.

重要的是，展望 2025 年，隨著我們進一步提高產量，我們將繼續清楚地看到 NdPr 的毛利和銷售額，從第四季度的業績可以看出，這應該會使我們的材料部門恢復盈利。在右側，您可以看到我們在磁性元件部門的營運成本方面進行了適度的投資。再次強調，重要的是，我們將在第一季開始實現適度的收入，並預計今年上半年該部門的 EBITDA 將轉為正值。

As for CapEx, we expect to spend roughly $150 million to $175 million in 2025 net of government grants. Recall that much of this spend is the spillover from our 2024 capital plan, mainly due to timing. Had we not underspent in 2024, this outlook would have been closer to $100 million.

至於資本支出，我們預計 2025 年扣除政府補助後將支出約 1.5 億至 1.75 億美元。回想一下，這些支出中的大部分都是我們 2024 年資本計畫的外溢效應，主要是因為時間安排。如果我們在 2024 年沒有支出不足的話，這個預期將接近 1 億美元。

This year's spend will be split roughly evenly between the Materials segment and the Magnetics segment. Magnetics CapEx will be focused on completing the acquisition and installation of the latter portions of the manufacturing equipment to reach our goal of producing magnets by year-end.

今年的支出將大致平均分配給材料部門和磁性部門。Magnetics CapEx 將專注於完成後製設備的收購和安裝，以實現我們在年底前生產磁鐵的目標。

And in the Materials segment, our spend will primarily be focused on high-return growth investments, like Upstream 60K, certain initial work on the recommissioning of our chlor-alkali facility, heavy rare earth separations, along with debottlenecking projects and the usual infrastructure and maintenance CapEx.

在材料部門，我們的支出將主要集中在高回報成長投資上，例如上游 60K、氯鹼設施重新調試的某些前期工作、重稀土分離、瓶頸消除項目和通常的基礎設施及維護資本支出。

Turning to the balance sheet, as we continue to make solid progress at Independence, we reached an operational milestone that unlocked an additional $50 million customer prepayment in the fourth quarter, bringing the total prepayments received to $100 million for the year.

談到資產負債表，隨著我們在獨立項目上繼續取得穩步進展，我們達到了一個營運里程碑，在第四季度額外解鎖了 5000 萬美元的客戶預付款，使全年收到的預付款總額達到 1 億美元。

We expect to receive the final $50 million prepayment in the next few months. We also expect to receive an additional roughly $50 million in proceeds from our 45X and 48C tax credits within the year, further supporting our strong cash position.

我們預計將在未來幾個月內收到最後一筆 5,000 萬美元的預付款。我們也預計今年將從 45X 和 48C 稅收抵免中額外獲得約 5,000 萬美元的收益，從而進一步支持我們強勁的現金狀況。

The fourth quarter results are always a bit more to take in as we recap both our recent performance and reflect back on the full year. Given the pivotal moment we are at in our country, our economy, and our company, I want to recap what these financial results and KPIs really tell you about where MP sits today.

當我們回顧近期業績並回顧全年業績時，第四季的業績總是有些令人難以忘懷。鑑於我們國家、經濟和公司正處於關鍵時刻，我想重述這些財務結果和 KPI 真正告訴您 MP 目前所處的位置。

With regards to the Materials segment, in 2024, we undertook a tremendously disruptive transition in our business from producing and selling a highly profitable concentrate product to consuming it to produce separated products. And as I mentioned earlier, we are currently operating at roughly one-third of our targeted throughput for NdPr oxide production, resulting in temporarily higher cost per unit of production.

就材料部門而言，2024 年，我們的業務進行了一次巨大的變革，從生產和銷售高利潤的濃縮產品轉變為消費該產品來生產分離產品。正如我之前提到的，我們目前的氧化镨釹生產能力約為目標產量的三分之一，導致單位生產成本暫時較高。

Despite this transition, we have a line of sight to turning NdPr production and, therefore, the segment back to profitability even in pricing, which, certainly on an inflation adjusted basis, is a decade or longer lows. These facts and our recent performance give us tremendous confidence that we will be a low-cost producer of NdPr as we reach targeted throughput.

儘管出現了這種轉變，我們仍有望扭轉镨釹的生產，從而使該部門恢復盈利，即使在定價方面，當然，根據通膨調整後的價格，也是十年或更長時間內的最低點。這些事實和我們最近的表現給了我們極大的信心，當我們達到目標產量時，我們將成為低成本的镨釹生產商。

While we continue to invest in debottlenecking and other high-return projects, we have completed the major optimization capital spend at Mountain Pass, boosting our go-forward cash-generation profile for the segment.

在我們繼續投資於瓶頸消除和其他高回報項目的同時，我們已經完成了 Mountain Pass 的主要優化資本支出，提升了該部門未來的現金產生能力。

And in Magnetics, as we began sharing last month, what we have built at Independence is world class, particularly with regards to the team we have assembled. In addition, the lion share of our investment in the facility is complete, and we will begin generating revenue and EBITDA here in the first half of 2025.

在 Magnetics，正如我們上個月開始分享的那樣，我們在 Independence 所構建的一切都是世界一流的，特別是我們組建的團隊。此外，我們對該工廠的大部分投資已經完成，我們將在 2025 年上半年開始在這裡創造收入和 EBITDA。

We still have roughly $100 million of capital spend to go, with most planned for 2025, but the nature of our contract will allow us to earn a strong fair return on this investment while also recapturing the full investment over the coming years. This will not be like the commodity materials business with initial losses as production ramps.

我們仍有大約 1 億美元的資本支出需要完成，大部分計劃在 2025 年完成，但我們合約的性質將使我們能夠從這項投資中獲得豐厚的公平回報，同時在未來幾年收回全部投資。這不會像大宗商品材料業務那樣，隨著產量的增加而出現初期損失。

Importantly, we believe Independence can more than double our initial target capacity with significantly lower incremental capital given the infrastructure, laboratories, and NPI facility do not have to be duplicated. And, operationally, as Jim mentioned, our early success in making automotive-grade magnets, some of the more challenging magnets to make, provides us a strong base from which to grow as our opportunity set explodes with the advent of physical AI and other critical use cases.

重要的是，我們相信，由於基礎設施、實驗室和 NPI 設施無需重複，Independence 可以用明顯較低的增量資本將我們的初始目標產能提高一倍以上。而且，從營運角度來看，正如 Jim 所提到的，我們在製造汽車級磁鐵方面取得了早期的成功，這些磁鐵是製造起來更具挑戰性的磁鐵之一，這為我們提供了堅實的基礎，隨著物理 AI 和其他關鍵用例的出現，我們的機會將呈爆炸式增長。

With that, let me turn the call over to Michael. Michael?

說完這些，讓我把電話轉給麥可。麥可？

Thanks, Ryan. I will now walk through the three parts of our operation: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Before I go through the details, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of our team for executing a record year at our three locations. We did so again without experiencing any lost time injuries and with a very strong regulatory and environmental performance. Thank you all for your commitment and unwavering determination in the face of countless challenges.

謝謝，瑞安。現在我將介紹我們營運的三個部分：上游、中游和下游。在介紹細節之前，我想先感謝我們的團隊的辛勤工作，讓我們在三個工廠都創下了歷史新高。我們再次做到了這一點，沒有遭遇任何工時損失，並且擁有非常出色的監管和環境績效。感謝大家在無數挑戰面前所展現的承諾和堅定的決心。

Turning to slide 13, here are recent photos of two of our US-made products. On the left, NdPr oxide produced in Mountain Pass, and on the right, NdPr metal produced at Independence. We are very proud of our progress in reestablishing this US supply chain, but we still have a lot left to accomplish.

翻到第 13 張幻燈片，這是我們兩款美國製造的產品的近期照片。左邊是在 Mountain Pass 生產的 NdPr 氧化物，右邊是在 Independence 生產的 NdPr 金屬。我們對重建美國供應鏈所取得的進展感到非常自豪，但我們還有很多工作要做。

Onto the operations. In our upstream business, we continued to deliver strong results in REO production per operating hour, capping a very productive year. The October scheduled outage was executed smoothly and with minimal rework.

開始操作。在我們的上游業務中，我們繼續在單位運行小時 REO 產量方面取得強勁成績，為高產量的一年畫上了句號。十月份的計畫停運順利進行，返工很少。

As I mentioned last quarter, we commissioned the first significant project in our Upstream 60K initiative, an enhancement to our grinding circuit, including new cyclones and screening equipment. Over time, we expect this investment to help us tighten our grind's distribution to incrementally improve rare earth recovery.

正如我上個季度提到的，我們啟動了上游 60K 計劃中的第一個重要項目，對我們的研磨迴路進行了改進，包括使用新的旋風分離器和篩分設備。隨著時間的推移，我們預計這項投資將幫助我們加強研磨分佈，從而逐步提高稀土回收率。

Initial operations were primarily focused on achieving mechanical stability and operability, and I'm pleased that this has been largely achieved. In Q4, the new assets had a slight negative impact on uptime and results. Though when operational, they showed strong promise. We are working with the vendor to identify materials of construction for the screens that will better withstand the abrasiveness of our ore and our other operating conditions.

最初的操作主要集中於實現機械穩定性和可操作性，我很高興這已基本實現。在第四季度，新資產對正常運作時間和結果產生了輕微的負面影響。但在投入營運時，它們展現了強大的潛力。我們正在與供應商合作，確定篩網的製造材料，以便更好地承受礦石的磨蝕性和其他操作條件。

In addition, we see the need to upgrade certain flotation and tailings plant pumps and line sizes to deal with higher recycled water usage necessitated by lower pulp densities preferred by the screens. We expect that Q1 will benefit from these new assets, although there will be some ups and downs while we optimize the operation.

此外，我們認為有必要升級某些浮選和尾礦廠的泵浦和管線尺寸，以應對由於篩網偏好的較低礦漿密度而導致的更高再生水使用量。我們預計第一季將受益於這些新資產，儘管在我們優化營運期間會有一些起伏。

In Q4, the combination of some altered flows from the new circuit, strong production growth from previous initiatives, and normal or variability at times put pressure on our concentrate dewatering and tailings processes, resulting in slightly lower-than-normal uptime for an outage quarter.

在第四季度，新迴路的一些流量改變、先前舉措帶來的強勁生產增長以及有時的正常或變化給我們的精礦脫水和尾礦工藝帶來了壓力，導致停機季度的正常運行時間略低於正常水平。

The midstream operations continues to ramp NdPr oxide production in a non-linear fashion, but with continuous improvement. Similar to the upstream assets, the semi-annual outage was executed on time and with less unplanned equipment maintenance than during prior outages.

中游業務持續以非線性方式提高氧化镨釹的產量，但不斷改進。與上游資產類似，半年一次的停駛也按時執行，與先前的停運相比，計畫外的設備維護減少了。

The midstream assets are a series of interconnected, continuous operations with inline storage to smooth short-term production interruptions in the various circuits. However, a significant part of our ramp involves aligning the uptime and throughput of each process to optimize resources.

中游資產是一系列相互連接、連續的操作，並配有線上存儲，以平滑各個迴路中的短期生產中斷。然而，我們產能提升的很大一部分涉及協調每個流程的正常運作時間和吞吐量，以優化資源。

As previously discussed, we have been focused on uptime and stability before maximizing throughput. In much of the operation, we are starting to see more satisfactory uptime and good process stability. While we still have a few assets that are not meeting our expectations, we are steadily addressing these. Some of the key circuits can now further increase uptime only if other areas increase their throughput. This is a pleasing development.

如同前面所討論的，在最大化吞吐量之前，我們一直專注於正常運行時間和穩定性。在大部分操作中，我們開始看到更令人滿意的正常運作時間和良好的流程穩定性。儘管我們仍有一些資產未能滿足我們的預期，但我們正在穩步解決這些問題。現在，只有其他區域提高吞吐量，一些關鍵電路才能進一步增加正常運行時間。這是一個令人高興的進展。

In Q4 and early January, we had a couple of mechanical and process upsets that held back production and/or required unexpected rework of the product finishing steps, consuming extra resources and limiting throughput. Based upon what we have seen since, we are expecting stronger run rate production for the balance of Q1.

在第四季度和 1 月初，我們遇到了一些機械和製程故障，導致生產受阻和/或需要對產品精加工步驟進行意外返工，從而消耗了額外的資源並限制了產量。根據我們此後看到的情況，我們預計第一季的剩餘產量將更加強勁。

We also expect that this momentum will improve further after our Q2 maintenance outage. We also believe that some of our maintenance cost, labor hours, and reagent consumption per ton of production will be leveraged to a greater extent going forward.

我們也預計，在第二季度維護停機後，這股勢頭將進一步改善。我們也相信，未來我們的部分維護成本、工時以及每噸產量的試劑消耗將得到更大程度的利用。

In short, I feel good about recent trends in production volumes and cost structure, though we still have significant room for improvement in all areas.

簡而言之，我對近期產量和成本結構的趨勢感到滿意，儘管我們在所有領域仍有很大改進空間。

The downstream metal, alloy, and magnetics business achieved MP Materials' biggest milestones in Q4. The highlight was commercializing continuous NdPr metal production at Independence. While still early and at relatively limited scale, we are pleased with our team's progress on the learning curve and our ability to consistently produce on spec metal. Over time, we expect to improve yield and first pass on spec metal percentage and reduce energy and raw materials consumption per unit produced.

下游金屬、合金和磁性材料業務在第四季度實現了 MP Materials 的最大里程碑。亮點是獨立工廠實現 NdPr 金屬連續生產的商業化。雖然還處於早期階段且規模相對有限，但我們對團隊在學習曲線上的進步以及持續生產符合規格金屬的能力感到滿意。隨著時間的推移，我們希望提高產量和一次性通過規格金屬的百分比，並降低每單位產量的能源和原料消耗。

In addition to preparing metal for commercial scale alloy and magnet production later this year, we are now able to use our own metal for prototype strip cast melts. Our new product introduction facility continues to increase its scope of activities from alloy production, powder production, sintering, machining, GBD, and magnet characterization.

除了為今年稍後的商業規模合金和磁鐵生產準備金屬外，我們現在還能夠使用我們自己的金屬進行原型鑄帶熔體生產。我們的新產品引進設施持續擴大其活動範圍，包括合金生產、粉末生產、燒結、機械加工、GBD 和磁鐵特性。

From expanding prototype operations, we are now able to produce magnets for customer qualification and also evaluate the impact of varying process conditions on magnet attributes, experience that will help us accelerate the operation of full-scale equipment as more is commissioned later this year and into next year.

透過擴大原型操作，我們現在能夠生產符合客戶要求的磁鐵，同時也評估不同製程條件對磁鐵屬性的影響，這些經驗將幫助我們加速全尺寸設備的運行，因為今年稍後和明年將有更多設備投入使用。

2025 promises to be another year of tremendous progress at Independence.

2025 年有望成為獨立市取得巨大進步的另一年。

With that, I will turn it back to Jim.

說完這些，我就把話題轉回給吉姆。

Thanks, Michael. Turning to slide 14, here's a picture of one of our automotive-grade magnets produced on our NPI line at Independence. As our commentary and this picture highlight, 2024 was a terrific year of execution, and 2025 is already off to a strong start.

謝謝，麥可。翻到第 14 張投影片，這是我們在 Independence 的 NPI 生產線上生產的汽車級磁鐵之一的圖片。正如我們的評論和這張圖片所強調的那樣，2024 年是執行力極強的一年，而 2025 年也已經有了一個強勁的開端。

As most of you know, the rare earths industry has long been subject to extreme market distortions driven by China's command over global supply and its ability to dictate pricing through subsidies, export controls and other non-market mechanisms. However, that playing field is beginning to shift.

大家可能都知道，稀土產業長期以來一直受到極端的市場扭曲，這是由於中國掌控全球供應，並且能夠透過補貼、出口管制和其他非市場機制來決定價格。然而，這個競爭環境正開始改變。

According to ATMOS Research, global demand for NdFeB magnets is expected to triple by 2040, fueled by electrification and physical AI, where intelligent automation meets real-world applications in robotics, defense, and industrial systems. This trajectory underscores the escalating financial commitment and risk tied to China's dominance over rare earths.

根據 ATMOS Research 的數據，到 2040 年，全球對釹鐵硼磁鐵的需求預計將增長兩倍，這得益於電氣化和物理 AI，其中智慧自動化與機器人、國防和工業系統領域的實際應用相遇。這一軌跡凸顯了中國在稀土領域的主導地位所帶來的資金投入和風險不斷升級。

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is poised to take decisive action to level the playing field for American workers. As President Trump recently stated, the US is now committed to true reciprocity in trade, whether through tariffs, subsidy adjustments, or other mechanisms that level the playing field for American businesses.

同時，川普政府準備採取果斷行動，為美國工人創造公平的競爭環境。正如川普總統最近所說，美國現在致力於實現真正的貿易互惠，無論是透過關稅、補貼調整，或是其他為美國企業提供公平競爭環境的機制。

This shift, combined with the long-term supply and demand realities of rare earths, reinforces our conviction that MP Materials will play a pivotal role in securing a competitive and resilient supply chain for industries of the future.

這種轉變，加上稀土的長期供需現實，增強了我們的信念：MP Materials 將在確保未來產業具有競爭力和彈性的供應鏈方面發揮關鍵作用。

Moreover, as the era of physical AI accelerates, national security considerations will only grow in importance, perhaps even more so in rare earth magnetics than in other electrification applications. Today's battlefields from Ukraine to the Middle East already proved that warfare is no longer about dogfights between jets, but about networks of drones, sensors, and AI-driven robotics.

此外，隨著物理人工智慧時代的加速，國家安全考量的重要性只會變得越來越高，在稀土磁材料中的重要性甚至可能比在其他電氣化應用中更為重要。今天從烏克蘭到中東的戰場已經證明，戰爭不再是戰機之間的混戰，而是無人機、感測器和人工智慧機器人網路的較量。

On Wall Street and in capital markets today, we see immense enthusiasm for defense tech, robotics, and physical AI, but I want to remind everyone, great power competition is not just about the next breakthrough in hardware or software, it is also about securing the critical supply chains that make those breakthroughs possible. Can the next hot drone robotics or eVTOL company really tell investors with a straight face that the rare earth magnets or other essential components come solely from China?

如今，在華爾街和資本市場上，我們看到了人們對國防技術、機器人技術和實體人工智慧的巨大熱情，但我想提醒大家，大國競爭不僅關乎硬體或軟體的下一次突破，還關乎確保實現這些突破的關鍵供應鏈。下一個熱門的無人機機器人或 eVTOL 公司真的可以一本正經地告訴投資者，稀土磁鐵或其他基本零件完全來自中國嗎？

At MP, we remain relentlessly focused on scaling our fully-integrated rare earth supply chain, advancing our Magnetics business, and delivering long-term value to our shareholders. The momentum is building. The fundamentals are on our side, and MP is positioned to lead for years to come.

在 MP，我們始終堅持不懈地專注於擴大我們完全整合的稀土供應鏈，推進我們的磁性業務，並為我們的股東提供長期價值。這種勢頭正在增強。基本面對我們有利，並且 MP 有望在未來幾年保持領先。

With that, let's open it up for questions. Operator?

現在，讓我們開始提問吧。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Matt Summerville from D.A. Davidson.

來自 D.A. 的 Matt Summerville戴維森。

Thanks, just curious beyond. You want in Q1 and realizing this is non-linear in nature, how should we think about the cadence in NdPr volume ramping throughout this year and then kind of maybe the exit rate into 2026 and -- or in into, yes, calendar '26, and how the current pricing environment informs the way you're going to ramp from here? And then, I will follow-up.

謝謝，只是好奇。您想在第一季意識到這本質上是非線性的，我們應該如何看待今年全年 NdPr 產量的成長節奏，然後可能是 2026 年的退出率 - 或者是 26 年的退出率，以及當前的定價環境如何影響您從現在開始的成長方式？然後，我會跟進。

Thanks. This is Michael. As I mentioned earlier, yeah, in terms of our production ramp, we've been focused on balancing cost, efficiency, and the long-term success of the business. In 2024, we were primarily focused on stability and uptime.

謝謝。這是邁克爾。正如我之前提到的，是的，就我們的生產成長而言，我們一直專注於平衡成本、效率和業務的長期成功。2024 年，我們主要關注穩定性和正常運作時間。

And in 2025, that we'll focus more on uptime and throughput. This underlines our plans for significant volume growth in 2025 along with the return to profitability. As you mentioned, in the first quarter, we'll show improvement, but we're feeling even more confident about that growth path after the early Q2 outage.

到 2025 年，我們將更加關注正常運作時間和吞吐量。這突顯了我們在 2025 年實現銷量大幅增長以及恢復盈利的計劃。正如您所說，在第一季度，我們會出現改善，但在第二季度初期的中斷之後，我們對這條成長路徑更有信心。

And then, as a follow-up, I'm sure you guys saw this the other day, maybe it was even yesterday, that China plans to prohibit non-state companies from mining rare earths, which would effectively or theoretically further tighten their control. I guess, what's your view on how that ultimately plays out in the commodity itself should that come to fruition?

然後，作為後續，我相信你們前幾天看到了這個，也許是昨天，中國計劃禁止非國有企業開採稀土，這將在有效或理論上進一步加強他們的控制。我想問的是，如果這個結果得以實現，您認為這最終會對商品本身產生怎樣的影響？

Good question. Obviously, it's difficult for us to speculate on what will happen with Chinese regulatory environment, but this does seem consistent with the policy announcements from last year, along with a general trend over the last decade plus of consolidation of the market -- or of the Chinese market into the two super majors and the deemphasis on purely private-owned market participants. This obviously means more of the quota allocation and enforcement is in the hands of those two players as well.

好問題。顯然，我們很難猜測中國的監管環境將會發生什麼，但這似乎與去年的政策聲明以及過去十多年市場整合的總體趨勢一致——或者說中國市場整合為兩大超級巨頭，而純私營市場參與者的重點不再是單一的。這顯然意味著更多的配額分配和執行權也掌握在這兩位參與者手中。

Certainly, the initial response from the market seems to take this as maybe more supply discipline and higher pricing. Over the last couple of years at the prevailing prices, most of the Chinese market has also been unprofitable. So, perhaps this is a move towards addressing that. Either way, we think it validates our business model and our mission, and the importance of having a diverse supply chain that's not dominated by a single party.

當然，市場最初的反應似乎是認為這可能是供應更加嚴格且價格更高。過去幾年，以現行價格計算，中國市場大部分都未能獲利。所以，這或許是解決這個問題的舉措。無論如何，我們認為它證實了我們的商業模式和使命，以及擁有不受單一方主導的多元化供應鏈的重要性。

Thanks, Michael.

謝謝，麥可。

Corinne Blanchard from Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的 Corinne Blanchard。

Hey guys, can you hear me?

嘿夥計們，你聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

Hey. Thank you. The first one, Michael, you mentioned that there is few areas that you would like to see improving at Mountain Pass. Most of us went there, like, few weeks ago. And so, could you just, like, talk about the few area that you would like that to get better, and then, what can be done and so?

嘿。謝謝。第一個問題，邁克爾，您提到您希望看到 Mountain Pass 在幾個方面得到改進。我們大多數人大約在幾週前去過那裡。那麼，您能否談談您希望改進的幾個方面，然後可以做些什麼呢？

And then, the second is also related to Mountain Pass. I think at the site visit, you mentioned, trying to focus more and more on exploration for this year and next year. So, if you could just share some more detail on there, that would be helpful.

然後，第二個也與 Mountain Pass 有關。我想，您在現場訪問時提到，要努力將更多的精力放在今年和明年的勘探上。因此，如果您能分享更多細節，那將會很有幫助。

Okay. Thanks, Corinne. I also mentioned in the remarks, the midstream assets are a series of interconnected circuits. And while as part of our stage two optimization project, we added additional intra-circuit storage. There is limits on how much we can smooth uptime between the different stages. So, the different areas need to run each with sufficiently high uptime and throughput to achieve production goals.

好的。謝謝，科琳。我在評論中也提到了，中游資產是一系列相互關聯的迴路。作為我們第二階段優化專案的一部分，我們增加了額外的電路內儲存。我們對不同階段之間正常運作時間的平滑程度是有限的。因此，不同區域需要以足夠高的正常運作時間和吞吐量運作才能實現生產目標。

In general, we're very happy with the process itself, but there's still room to improve the mechanicals to -- the mechanical reliability of certain parts of the assets. One kind of category that we see significant room for improvement is in solids handling and conveyance, where we see intermediate products are not, in some cases, moving as reliably as we need them to.

總的來說，我們對流程本身非常滿意，但仍有改進的空間——提高資產某些部分的機械可靠性。我們發現固體處理和運輸領域存在很大的改進空間，在某些情況下，我們發現中間產品的移動並不像我們需要的那樣可靠。

Some of these issues resolve themselves as the processes on either side of that material handling improves, but some require specific troubleshooting. As we address one issue, it may expose another area where that didn't appear to be a bottleneck. So, we're sort of addressing these as we go, hopefully, as many at once as we can.

隨著材料處理兩側製程的改進，其中一些問題可以自行解決，但有些問題需要特定的故障排除。當我們解決一個問題時，它可能會暴露另一個看似不是瓶頸的領域。因此，我們會邊走邊解決這些問題，希望能夠同時解決盡可能多的問題。

So, while progress may not be as apparent in the production figures as we may like, we're really optimistic that behind the scenes here, we are making day-to-day progress, and that will become a lot more apparent in the coming quarters.

因此，雖然生產數據的進展可能不像我們所希望的那樣明顯，但我們非常樂觀地認為，在幕後，我們每天都在取得進展，而且在未來幾季這將變得更加明顯。

Thank you. And, if you can just, like, talk a little bit about the exploration plan that you may have for this year and next year?

謝謝。您能否談談今年和明年的勘探計畫？

Sure. Since 2010, there's really been minimal exploratory drilling of the Mountain Pass deposit. We've done a small amount a couple of years ago, but I think, as we've improved process recovery in the concentrator, we're looking to fill in gaps in the mine where we do not necessarily have sufficient definition to include certain areas in the resource or not enough definition to really categorize what the grade is and what the mineralogy is. So that will be the focus for this year, more within pit or near pit. I think in the coming years, we may look at expanding that area within our primarily the 2,000 acres that we have of the Mountain Pass patented claims.

當然。自 2010 年以來，對 Mountain Pass 礦床的勘探鑽探實際上很少。幾年前我們已經做了少量工作，但我認為，隨著我們改善了選礦廠的製程回收率，我們正在尋求填補礦山中的空白，在這些空白中，我們不一定有足夠的定義來包括資源中的某些區域，或者沒有足夠的定義來真正對等級和礦物學進行分類。所以這將是今年的重點，更專注於坑內或坑附近。我認為在未來幾年，我們可能會考慮擴大我們主要擁有的 2,000 英畝 Mountain Pass 專利權範圍內的該地區。

Great, thank you. Thank you.

太好了，謝謝。謝謝。

Greg Jones from BMO

BMO 的 Greg Jones

Good afternoon. With all the discussions of tariffs over the past few weeks or months, are there any aspects of MP's business that are sourced external to the US which could potentially be exposed to price increases, maybe things like consumables, chemicals, or reagents?

午安.在過去幾週或幾個月關於關稅的討論中，MP 的業務中是否有任何部分來自美國以外，可能會面臨價格上漲的風險，例如消耗品、化學品或試劑？

Hey, Greg. It's Ryan. I'll take that. Certainly, every global business is concerned about tariffs. I think we've been very forward thinking here. And given the required logistics of the major input costs for Mountain Pass and its very favorable position, we have very little exposure to imported materials, whether Chinese or otherwise. So, we don't expect the increased tariffs for global imports into the United States to have a meaningful impact on our cost structure.

嘿，格雷格。是瑞安。我接受。當然，每個全球企業都擔心關稅。我認為我們的思維非常具有前瞻性。鑑於 Mountain Pass 所需的物流主要投入成本及其非常有利的地理位置，我們很少接觸進口材料，無論是中國材料還是其他國家材料。因此，我們預期美國全球進口商品關稅的提高不會對我們的成本結構產生重大影響。

Great. Thanks. And one related question. There's been some reports that the Trump administration may pause grant payments under the IRA. Is there any potential risk that grants that MP expects to receive could be at risk?

偉大的。謝謝。還有一個相關問題。有報導稱川普政府可能會暫停 IRA 的補助金支付。MP 期望收到的補助金是否有潛在風險？

No. Hey, Greg. This is Jim. I don't think so. I think there's -- one area that there's sort of wide appreciation is in critical minerals. And so, there's pretty broad support for that. In fact, on Valentine's Day, they just put out an executive order establishing the National Energy Dominance Council, and one of the big things is focused on more critical minerals production. So, our expectation is that anything that is done is going to be extremely beneficial towards supporting our efforts. So, we don't really see much risk on that front in totality.

不。嘿，格雷格。這是吉姆。我不這麼認為。我認為，人們廣泛關注的一個領域是關鍵礦物。因此，這一點得到了相當廣泛的支持。事實上，在情人節那天，他們剛發布了一項行政命令，成立了國家能源主導委員會，其中一項重要的內容就是關注更關鍵的礦產生產。因此，我們期望所做的一切也將極為有利於支持我們的努力。因此，整體而言，我們並不認為這方面有太大的風險。

Great, thank you.

太好了，謝謝。

Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的卡洛斯‧德阿爾巴 (Carlos De Alba)。

Yeah. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. So, just, you clearly have surprised people over the years on how you have executed, particularly, obviously, on the Materials segment. So, what can you tell us.

是的。非常感謝。大家下午好。所以，多年來，您的表現顯然讓人們感到驚訝，特別是在材料領域。那麼，您能告訴我們什麼呢？

Is that your way of saying you didn't believe in us?

這就是你表示不相信我們的方式嗎？

I'm saying the market, man,

我說的是市場，夥計，

Okay. Fair enough.

好的。很公平。

If you have seen how we have talked and rated the stock. But anyway, the midstream, as was said, it's only a third of the production right now. So, how do you see the progression of production and cost? Should we expect sort of a linear relationship between the two, a constant relation between the two, or do you think that you can deliver or you will deliver production at capacity or normalized run rate before then costs start to really come down, just to make sure that we don't miss that as we try to model that for the improvement?

如果您已經了解我們如何談論和評價股票。但無論如何，如同所說，中游目前僅佔產量的三分之一。那麼，您如何看待生產和成本的進展？我們是否應該預期兩者之間存在某種線性關係，即兩者之間存在恆定的關係，或者您是否認為在成本真正開始下降之前，您可以實現或以產能或正常運轉率實現生產，只是為了確保我們在嘗試為改進建立模型時不會錯過這一點？

Thanks, Carlos. This is Michael. I'll start, and sure Ryan will add on. Very much as we saw with the upstream business, we saw period of challenging reliability with relatively low throughput followed by significant breakthroughs where we had sort of step change functions in production.

謝謝，卡洛斯。這是邁克爾。我先開始，Ryan 當然也會補充。正如我們在上游業務中看到的那樣，我們經歷了可靠性挑戰期，產量相對較低，隨後取得了重大突破，生產功能發生了階躍變化。

I think, seeing sort of similar trends here where the progress is not as apparent and then -- but we know it's happening, and we expect that to come through. We've been clear and focused on ensuring we're not pushing volume for volume's sake at cost that don't work. And so, I'm hopeful that as we get to certain levels of volume that the cost structure will improve materially.

我認為，在這裡看到的趨勢類似，雖然進展不那麼明顯，但我們知道它正在發生，我們期待它能夠實現。我們一直明確並專注於確保我們不會為了銷售而以無效的成本追求銷售。因此，我希望，當我們達到一定的產量水準時，成本結構將會得到實質改善。

I'll let Ryan follow-up on that.

我會讓瑞安跟進此事。

Yeah. I mean, I think you hit it well, Michael. All I'd say is, obviously, with the data we see in each circuit, when each individual process is running as intended, which we get very good line of sight into that over the course of a production quarter, the model is working as we expected effectively.

是的。我的意思是，我認為你打得很好，麥可。我想說的是，顯然，透過我們在每個電路中看到的數據，當每個單獨的過程都按預期運行時，我們可以很好地看到，在一個生產季度的過程中，模型正在按照我們預期的那樣有效地運行。

And so, we're at this point where, to Michael's point, stringing it all together to maintain the reliability with the increase in throughput is really going to be what we need to unlock the cost structure that we've always targeted. We feel very good that we will get there.

所以，我們現在正處於這個階段，正如邁克爾所說，將所有這些串聯起來以保持可靠性和提高吞吐量才是我們真正需要的，以解鎖我們一直以來的目標成本結構。我們非常高興我們能夠實現這個目標。

And so, that's a lot of words to say, we're at the point where a lot of this is a fixed cost absorption issue where as we get throughput, the way we should be getting throughput, so being thoughtful about it, we do expect our costs to come down.

所以，有很多話要說，我們處於一個很大的階段，其中許多是一個固定成本吸收問題，當我們獲得吞吐量時，我們應該以這樣的方式獲得吞吐量，所以經過深思熟慮，我們確實希望我們的成本下降。

On top of that, I talked a little bit about some of the projects that we are investing in that I think give us even further excitement about our ability to continue to bring costs down and be a low-cost producer globally of NdPr oxide and other separated products namely, what I mentioned on chlor-alkali over time, and some other investments that we're working on. And so, this will be a long-term plan to continue to pull costs out even as we just get to our targeted cost structure from throughput over time.

除此之外，我還談了一些我們正在投資的項目，我認為這些項目讓我們更加興奮，因為我們有能力繼續降低成本，成為全球低成本的氧化镨釹和其他分離產品的生產商，也就是我之前提到的氯鹼產品，以及我們正在進行的一些其他投資。因此，這將是一個長期計劃，即使我們只是隨著時間的推移從吞吐量達到目標成本結構，仍將繼續降低成本。

All right, that makes sense. And maybe a related question, but more on the upstream. As you start executing and delivering on the 60K project, that incremental throughput and production output of concentrate, how much of a cost benefit -- cost reduction benefit would that generate you think?

好吧，這很有道理。這也許是一個相關的問題，但更多的是關於上游。當您開始執行和交付 60K 專案時，您認為增量吞吐量和精礦產量將帶來多少成本效益—成本降低效益？

Well, this is Ryan. I'll start, and Mike, jump in if you've got other thoughts. I think as you've seen with our cadence of production cost improvements on the upstream side in periods of higher upstream production, certainly, depending on how you get to those higher throughputs, will inform how much of a cost benefit will flow through the model. What we have seen recently is a lot of the production growth coming via improved recovery and improved recovery has nearly a full drop through to the bottom-line.

嗯，這是瑞安。我先開始，Mike，如果你有其他想法也可以加入。我認為，正如你所看到的，在上游產量較高的時期，上游生產成本的改善節奏當然取決於你如何獲得更高的產量，這將決定有多少成本效益將流經該模型。我們最近看到，大量產量成長來自於採收率的提高，而採收率的提高幾乎完全影響到了利潤。

And so, those are the types of opportunities that we are focused on in the short- and medium-term. As we want and look to grow even further, there is a limit to the amount of improvement to recovery that we can achieve, and so that will have a slightly different cost profile.

所以，這些都是我們短期和中期關注的機會類型。儘管我們希望並期待進一步發展，但我們能夠實現的恢復改進量是有限的，因此成本狀況會略有不同。

But putting that all together, certainly, there's a significant amount of fixed infrastructure and shared costs that we'll start to get leverage on as well as we drive production growth. And so, different shades of a positive, but generally all quite positive.

但把所有這些放在一起，當然，我們會開始利用大量的固定基礎設施和共享成本來推動生產成長。因此，雖然積極程度有不同程度，但總體來說都是相當積極的。

Bill Peterson from JPMorgan.

摩根大通的 Bill Peterson。

Yeah, sorry about that. Can you hear me okay now?

是的，很抱歉。現在你聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes, hey Bill.

是的，嘿，比爾。

Great. Yeah. Good afternoon, everyone. It was nice to visit both Mountain Pass as well as Independence. Thanks for all the insights you shared there.

偉大的。是的。大家下午好。參觀山口和獨立城真是太好了。感謝您分享的所有見解。

On the midstream cost downs, just want to come back to that to make sure I understand. I think the prior quarter, you had thought you could achieve gross margin positive exiting the quarter, but now you're seeing -- I guess, you saw some throughput issues, some reliability issues. I guess with some of the improvements you have made since then, and the expected improvements you have to come, assuming pricing is -- I guess, no change in pricing, which, frankly, we haven't really seen much over the past quarter, what is your latest expectations on turning gross margin positive?

關於中游成本下降，我只是想回到這一點以確保我理解。我認為，在上一季度，您曾認為可以在本季度末實現毛利率為正，但現在您看到——我想，您看到了一些吞吐量問題和一些可靠性問題。我想，從那時起你們已經做出了一些改進，而且你們還預期會有改進，假設定價沒有變化，坦率地說，我們在過去的一個季度並沒有看到太多變化，那麼，你們對於毛利率轉為正值的最新預期是什麼？

Yeah. Sure, Bill. It's Ryan. I don't think we've really changed our view at all on timing of exiting Q1 for hitting gross profit in the NdPr production. We continue to think we're tracking towards that. Obviously, there are puts and takes. Michael talked about the rework in January. But we still think that we have good line of sight to achieving that. So, no change in our commentary on that.

是的。當然，比爾。是瑞安。我認為，我們對於退出第一季以實現镨釹生產毛利的時機的看法並沒有改變。我們繼續認為我們正在朝著這個目標前進。顯然，這其中有得有失。邁克爾在一月份談到了重新設計的事情。但我們仍然認為我們有很好的機會實現這一目標。因此，我們對此的評論沒有變化。

Okay. Great. Thanks for that confirmation. And, also, I guess, in the third OEM, congrats on that. I guess, are you -- do you have the bandwidth or the capability to support additional OEM agreements at this stage? Is there interest from your side or interest from other OEMs?

好的。偉大的。感謝您的確認。而且，我想，這也是第三個 OEM，我對此表示祝賀。我想，您——是否擁有頻寬或能力來在現階段支援額外的 OEM 協定？您或其他 OEM 對此有興趣嗎？

And I guess, beyond the automakers, can you shed light on any discussions you're having with companies that are in the robotics space or eVTOL or some of these emerging markets that, you kind of alluded to earlier, will frankly need this sort of western source of supply?

除了汽車製造商之外，您能否介紹一下您與機器人領域或 eVTOL 領域的公司進行的任何討論，或者您之前提到的一些新興市場，坦白說，這些市場需要這種西方的供應源？

Yeah, sure, Bill. It's Ryan again. In terms of the automotive OEM, this was something we announced, I think, a couple of quarters ago. And the way we think about it is obviously serving those OEMs across a variety of products, both on the oxide metal and magnetic side.

是的，當然，比爾。又是瑞安。就汽車原始設備製造商而言，我想這是我們幾個季度前宣布的事情。我們的想法顯然是為各種產品的 OEM 提供服務，包括氧化物金屬和磁性方面。

So, from the magnetics perspective, we have no new news to break at the moment. And, certainly, we remain focused on the magnetics side at the moment on executing for General Motors, given the significant commitment we have to them in that facility.

因此，從磁學角度來看，目前我們還沒有新的消息可以透露。當然，鑑於我們在該工廠對通用汽車的重大承諾，我們目前仍然專注於磁性方面為通用汽車執行的任務。

That said, both on the Materials segment and the Magnetics segment, conversations have picked up, I would say, meaningfully over the last three months or so, in terms of interest in securing supply from a trustworthy western supplier of these critical products.

儘管如此，我想說，無論是在材料領域還是在磁性領域，在過去三個月左右的時間裡，雙方的對話都有所增加，對於從值得信賴的西方供應商處獲得這些關鍵產品的供應，雙方的興趣有所增加。

And so, whether it's the tariff discussion and potential reciprocity there or just the concerns where we've seen in several other critical minerals, an inability for certain large OEMs to source, that is really the crux of our mission from the beginning. And so, everything that we're seeing geopolitically, I think, plays exactly into the reason we're doing everything that we're doing. And so, conversations continue across both sides of the business.

因此，無論是關稅討論和潛在的互惠，還是我們在其他幾種關鍵礦產中看到的擔憂，即某些大型原始設備製造商無法採購，這實際上是我們從一開始就面臨的使命的關鍵。所以，我認為，我們在地緣政治上看到的一切正好符合我們所做的一切事情的原因。因此，雙方的對話仍在繼續。

Specifically to your question on robotics, eVTOL, et cetera, we are having a lot of conversations. I think the great thing about the way we set that business up is focusing on a customer like General Motors, and the automotive supply chain to begin with, lower SKU count, an extreme amount of focus on quality, and some of the hardest magnets to make.

具體來說，對於您關於機器人、eVTOL 等方面的問題，我們正在進行大量討論。我認為我們開展這項業務的方式最棒的地方在於專注於像通用汽車這樣的客戶，以及汽車供應鏈，降低 SKU 數量，極度注重質量，以及製造一些最難的磁鐵。

And so, hitting that first sets us up for great opportunities to come that we can fit into Independence where we've already got the team in place. We've got most of the assets in place. And so, I would say, we're having a lot of conversations and, obviously, you know our MO, we will announce something when we have something to announce, but we have no shortage of opportunities.

因此，首先實現這一點就為我們帶來了巨大的機遇，讓我們能夠融入獨立國家，因為我們已經在那裡組建了一個團隊。我們已經擁有大部分資產。因此，我想說，我們正在進行很多對話，顯然，你知道我們的行事方式，當我們有事要宣佈時，我們就會宣布，但我們並不缺乏機會。

Yeah. Thanks for that, Ryan. Good luck, team.

是的。謝謝你，瑞安。祝你好運，團隊。

Benjamin Kallo from Baird.

來自貝爾德的本傑明·卡洛 (Benjamin Kallo)。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Thanks for all the detail. Just -- could you just update us on your approach to heavies as it relates to both the upstream side of the business and then as far as sourcing for the magnetics side of the business?

嘿，大家好。感謝您回答我的問題。謝謝你的詳細說明。只是—您能否向我們介紹一下您對重型設備的態度，因為它與業務的上游以及磁性設備業務的採購有關？

And then, my second question maybe for Jim, just on the policy front, you mentioned the council that was formed, but is there anything that you could point to that there's actual teeth to any kind of pricing support or any kind of efforts on policy front to kind of reward the domestic production? Thank you, guys.

然後，我的第二個問題可能是針對吉姆的，僅在政策方面，您提到了成立的委員會，但您能否指出，任何形式的定價支持或任何形式的政策方面的努力都有實際作用，以獎勵國內生產？謝謝你們。

Sure. Michael, why don't you go first, and then I'll get the second part.

當然。邁克爾，你先走吧，然後我再拿第二部分。

Okay, thanks. Great. Thanks, Ben. Certainly, we've been primarily focused on our heavy rare earth separation project as our primary strategy for supplying terbium and dysprosium to our Magnetics business. And our main interest in the rare earth separation -- heavy rare earth separation is to support the Magnetics business.

好的，謝謝。偉大的。謝謝，本。當然，我們主要專注於重稀土分離項目，作為向磁業業務供應铽和鏑的主要策略。我們對稀土分離—重稀土分離的主要興趣是為了支持磁業業務。

At the same time, we've been focused on the most efficient way to apply shareholder capital to that project. We feel very good about where we are in terms of securing enough material to support the start up an initial 1,000 ton capacity of the facility.

同時，我們一直專注於以最有效的方式將股東資本應用於該專案。我們對自己目前的狀況感到非常滿意，因為我們已獲得足夠的材料來支持該設施最初 1,000 噸的產能的啟動。

And as a backup to that, our own efforts, we do have the ability to source materials in the market. Our heavy rare earth project does allow for and is designed for the ability to process third-party materials, and we have a team of people who've been focused on trying to source those materials.

作為支持，透過我們自己的努力，我們確實有能力在市場上採購材料。我們的重稀土專案確實允許並且旨在具有處理第三方材料的能力，並且我們有一個團隊一直致力於尋找這些材料。

Of course, as the market has evolved, some projects that we had hopes for, are either delayed or worse than delayed. But we're excited about what we're doing in the heavies project.

當然，隨著市場的發展，一些我們所希望的項目要么被推遲，要么比推遲更糟糕。但我們對於重型項目所做的事情感到非常興奮。

As you're able to see, we're able to coordinate efforts between our midstream team at Mountain Pass and our downstream team at Independence in order to develop a really thoughtful, integrated, heavy rare earth business that incorporates recycling and avoids unnecessary process steps and costs and hopefully -- and is, certainly, probably uniquely aligned in terms of desire to minimize heavy rare earth usage and maximize the amount of heavy rare earths that are that are produced.

正如您所看到的，我們能夠協調位於 Mountain Pass 的中游團隊和位於 Independence 的下游團隊的努力，以開發一個真正周到的、綜合的重稀土業務，該業務結合了回收利用，避免了不必要的工藝步驟和成本，並且希望——當然，很可能在盡量減少重稀土使用量和盡量增加重稀土產量方面達成獨特的一致。

And, hey, Ben, on your second part, but just finishing what Michael said, one important thing, we may have covered this before, but on the heavy side, the really exciting growth use cases that we're now seeing in the marketplace around physical AI, a lot of those use cases have very limited or even no heavies. So, just, I think that's a really important thing to think about as far as the growth prospects for the business.

嘿，本，關於你的第二部分，但只是完成了邁克爾所說的，一件重要的事情，我們可能之前已經討論過這個問題，但在重量級的方面，我們現在在物理人工智能市場上看到的真正令人興奮的增長用例，其中很多用例的重量級非常有限甚至沒有。所以，我認為就業務成長前景而言，這是一件值得考慮的重要事情。

But moving on to policy, you've heard me say this repeatedly, but I think it's worth repeating again and again and again. We want a level-playing field, and then we'll do the rest. And that's the message that we've given to the government repeatedly over time, which is we don't have a level-playing field. Give us that level-playing field, and we'll do the rest.

但談到政策，你們已經聽過我反覆說過這一點，但我認為值得一再重複。我們想要一個公平的競爭環境，然後我們再做剩下的事情。這是我們長期以來反覆向政府傳達的訊息，即我們沒有一個公平的競爭環境。給我們一個公平的競爭環境，我們做剩下的事情。

And, obviously, this new administration is focused on companies like ours that are bringing jobs back. We have operators, electricians, maintenance workers, engineers, all the things that the golden age of American manufacturing is supposed to be focused on.

顯然，新政府專注於像我們這樣幫助恢復就業的企業。我們有操作員、電工、維修工人、工程師，所有這些都是美國製造業黃金時代應該關注的。

And so, I would say, actually, one pronouncement that was really amazing, I think it was a week ago, it was within the past week. You can find a posting from President Trump on Truth and X, where he actually -- he had a very long detailed paragraph about reciprocity, and he went into detail about how he considers reciprocity to be. And it went specifically into various aspects beyond just other countries' tariffs with respect to VATS and other subsidies and whatnot.

因此，我想說，實際上，有一個聲明真的非常令人驚訝，我想那是一個星期前，在過去的一周。你可以在 Truth and X 上找到川普總統的一篇文章，其中他實際上——用很長的一段話詳細闡述了互惠，並詳細說明了他認為互惠是什麼。該協議具體涉及了除其他國家關稅之外的各個方面，還包括增值稅和其他補貼等等。

And so, I think that there's -- I think if you take him at his word, and I certainly do, and I think we've seen just tremendous movement in this first month, writ large, it's pretty astonishing and amazing that they're going to be true to the word to level the playing field. And so, I think it's still unknown as to exactly how that's going to take shape, but I think if we can get that, it's going to be really extraordinary for our business.

所以，我認為——我認為如果你相信他的話，而我絕對相信，我認為我們在第一個月就看到了巨大的進步，從廣義上講，他們能夠信守諾言，創造公平的競爭環境，這真是令人驚訝和驚嘆。所以，我認為這將如何實現仍然是個未知數，但我認為，如果我們能夠實現這一點，那麼對我們的業務來說將是一件非常了不起的事情。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Laurence Alexander from Jefferies.

傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的勞倫斯‧亞歷山大 (Laurence Alexander)。

Good afternoon. So, first of all, have you now already produced and qualified all of the target SKUs that you need to -- for the GM contract, or do you still need -- or are there still some technical hurdles left to hit on that front?

午安.那麼，首先，您現在是否已經生產並認證了通用汽車合約所需的所有目標 SKU，或者您仍然需要——或者在這方面是否仍然存在一些技術障礙？

And then, secondly, just a question about trade-offs. You're in a different place than when you signed the first contract. So, what counts as a comparable or better-quality contract now? I mean, you don't need the upfront payments and so forth. So, can you just give your philosophy around that?

其次，只是一個關於權衡的問題。現在的情況和簽訂第一份合約時已經不同了。那麼，現在什麼才算是可比的或品質更好的合約呢？我的意思是，您不需要預付款等等。那麼，您能就此闡述您的哲學觀點嗎？

And then, also, can you give your -- I realize we've all been badgering you to get Magnetics to profitability, but once you cross the line, how important is it to build and expand the engineering's talents to be able to generate more -- handle more SKUs and go after adjacent markets? Just what's your philosophy on the timeline for that?

然後，另外，您能否給出您的——我知道我們都在催促您讓 Magnetics 實現盈利，但是一旦您跨越了界限，建立和擴展工程人才以便能夠產生更多——處理更多的 SKU 並進軍鄰近市場，這有多重要？您對於這個時間表有什麼看法？

Sure, Lawrence. It's Ryan. I'll start. In terms of your question on qualification, I think we are extremely pleased with the progress that we've made in producing the quality of magnets that we have in the NPI facility. I would say the qualification and PPAP process with an automotive customer is very long and involved and it involves quite a bit of production runs on full-scale equipment.

當然，勞倫斯。是瑞安。我先開始。關於您提到的資質問題，我認為我們對 NPI 工廠生產磁鐵的品質所取得的進展感到非常滿意。我想說的是，與汽車客戶合作的資格認證和 PPAP 流程非常漫長且複雜，並且涉及大量全尺寸設備的生產運作。

And so, that will come later in the year. We have a great working relationship with the engineering and qualification team at our foundational customer and continue to have great dialogue there. So, we remain excited about that.

因此，這將在今年晚些時候實現。我們與基礎客戶的工程和資格認證團隊保持了良好的工作關係，並繼續保持良好的對話。因此，我們對此仍然感到興奮。

I don't know, Jim, if you want to cover your thoughts on contracting.

吉姆，我不知道你是否想談談你對承包的想法。

Yeah. I mean, Laurence, you're asking specifically around what makes a good contract or not. I mean, I think, we've been very methodical about how we're building this business. I think, hopefully, you see that now. And the answer is that there's so many puts and takes that it's hard to give it to you in one summary other than we're going to be thoughtful stewards of shareholder capital.

是的。我的意思是，勞倫斯，你具體問的是怎樣才算是一份好的合約。我的意思是，我認為，我們在建立這項業務方面一直非常有條不紊。我想，希望你現在能夠明白這一點。答案是，有太多的利弊，很難用一個總結給你，除非我們要做股東資本的周到的管家。

We're not going to go on spec to take a bunch of risk. And so, as we add new cut -- well, first and foremost, we need to execute well. And so, our primary focus in the Magnetics business at Independence is making sure we do an incredible job for GM at -- who's our foundational customer.

我們不會根據推測去冒很大的風險。因此，當我們添加新內容時——首先，我們需要執行好。因此，我們在 Independence 的磁性業務中的主要重點是確保我們為通用汽車（我們的基礎客戶）做出出色的工作。

And delivering beyond that, growing the business, I think it's fair to say you can probably see from our commentary and our view about how the world is moving and the types of customers that would make incremental sense that over time, you'll -- you should expect to see something on the physical AI front.

除此之外，為了實現業務成長，我想可以說，您可以從我們的評論和我們對世界發展方式和客戶類型的看法中看到，隨著時間的推移，您應該會在實體 AI 方面看到一些東西。

It's still obviously very early in that, but it's just really extraordinary, the pace of capital formation that's happening there and, frankly, the scientific breakthroughs that are really happening in those businesses.

顯然，現在還為時過早，但那裡的資本形成速度，以及坦白說，這些企業確實正在取得的科學突破，確實令人驚嘆。

I think maybe certainly not you, Laurence, but maybe some people thought I was a little nutty a year ago talking about how our belief, my belief is that physical AI would be sort of the first business use case out of the AI boom that we're seeing sort of hundreds of billions of dollars of capital spend, but it's not necessarily certain where's the GDP growth, where's the true revenue coming from that. And my view has been that physical AI is where we're going to start to see that.

我想也許你不會這麼認為，勞倫斯，但也許有些人認為我一年前在談論我們的信念時有點瘋狂，我的信念是物理人工智能將成為人工智能熱潮中第一個商業用例，我們看到數千億美元的資本支出，但不一定確定 GDP 增長在哪裡，真正的收入來自哪裡。我的觀點是，物理人工智慧是我們開始看到這一點的地方。

It's still obviously very early, and so that is going to be one of the big transformational things that we see. And, obviously, we're just in a great position. We've shown that we can make auto-grade magnets, and so making magnets for those use cases actually material easily -- easier, not to be complacent about it.

顯然現在還為時過早，因此這將是我們所看到的重大變革之一。顯然，我們處於非常有利的地位。我們已經證明我們可以製造汽車級磁鐵，因此製造用於這些用例的磁鐵實際上很容易 - 更容易，不要對此自滿。

And so, I think the question is just how do we want to grow the business, but we'll all -- we'll do it thoughtfully. We're, certainly, not going to rush, because first and foremost, you have to execute well for people or you don't get to grow the business. And so, it's not a question of lack of growth.

所以，我認為問題只是我們希望如何發展業務，但我們都會深思熟慮地去做。我們當然不會著急，因為首先也是最重要的，你必須為人們提供良好的服務，否則你的業務就無法發展。所以，這不是缺乏成長的問題。

Again, I go back to the comment, Laurence, that I made on the call, and I kind of say this jokingly in jest, but then I actually really say it seriously, which is, can you be a sort of one of these exciting defense, Tech, robotics, drone, eVTOL companies, raising capital at enormous valuations and not have a very specific answer of where your supply chain is coming from because you're a defense tech.

勞倫斯，我再次回到我在電話會議上發表的評論，我有點開玩笑地說，但實際上我是認真的，那就是，你能否成為這些令人興奮的國防、科技、機器人、無人機、 eVTOL 公司之一，以高昂的估值籌集資金，但卻無法具體回答你的供應鏈來自哪裡，因為你是一家國防科技公司。

So, saying, my supply chain comes from China solely, is not an answer that someone can really fund over the long-term. And so, obviously, I think that that positions us very well, and we'll be thoughtful about how we grow that business.

因此，說我的供應鏈完全來自中國，並不是人們能夠長期真正資助的答案。因此，顯然，我認為這對我們非常有利，我們會認真考慮如何發展這項業務。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Our last question comes from Leanne Hayden with Canaccord. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Canaccord 的 Leanne Hayden。請取消靜音並提出您的問題。

Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks so much for taking my questions. You mentioned stronger midstream run rate production going forward. When do you expect to reach run rate production of 6,000 tons of NdPr? And, additionally, where do you expect the steady state cost of NdPr production per kilogram to land?

大家下午好。非常感謝您回答我的問題。您提到了未來中游生產運行率將會更高。您預計何時能達到 6,000 噸镨釹的產量？另外，您預計每公斤镨釹生產的穩定成本會達到多少？

We will try to get there to the run rate as fast as we can within the confines of what I said earlier in terms of balancing cost efficiency, long-term stability. But, certainly, we expect significant improvement in progress this year towards that.

我們將在平衡成本效益和長期穩定性方面，在先前所述的範圍內，盡快達到運行率。但我們確實預計今年在這方面的進展將取得顯著進步。

And, Leanne, on the cost side, I think we've given you guys quite a few building blocks over time to triangulate where we think our run rate cost structure will be. We -- there are obviously puts and takes since we provided initial guidance in 2020 or 2021 on rough order magnitude of cost, but our conviction in being a low-cost producer globally remains and remains extremely strong, given all the progress that we've seen.

Leanne，在成本方面，我想我們已經為你們提供了相當多的基礎模組，以便你們確定我們認為的運行率成本結構將會在哪裡。自從我們在 2020 年或 2021 年就成本的大致數量級提供初步指導以來，我們顯然存在一些波動，但鑑於我們所看到的所有進展，我們仍然堅信自己是全球低成本生產商。

Obviously, Michael spoke at length now on this call about the various hurdles ahead of us, so -- that we intend to knock down. And as we do that, certainly, I think the math will prove itself out that Mountain Pass and its position on the cost curve is about as strong as it gets.

顯然，邁克爾在這次電話會議中詳細談到了我們面臨的各種障礙，因此——我們打算克服這些障礙。當我們這樣做的時候，我認為數學將證明 Mountain Pass 及其在成本曲線上的位置是盡可能強大的。

Got it. Thank you very much.

知道了。非常感謝。

That concludes the question-and-answer portion of today's call. I will now hand the call back to Mr. Litinsky for closing remarks.

今天電話會議的問答部分到此結束。現在我將把發言權交還給利廷斯基先生，請他作最後發言。

Thanks. As as I said earlier, I think it was a really remarkable 2024. 2025 is off to a terrific start. And so, we will get back to work like usual, and we look forward to speaking to you all next quarter. Thanks.

謝謝。正如我之前所說，我認為 2024 年真的是一個了不起的年份。因此，我們將照常恢復工作，並期待下個季度與大家交談。謝謝。