MP Vs CRML: Rare Earth Rivals Clash Online As US Price Support Fears Rattle Stocks

Retail sentiment cooled on Critical Metals but turned extremely bullish on MP, even as both stocks remain massive winners over the past year.

• Executive Chairman of Critical Metals, Tony Sage, said that the company “never has and never will need a floor price.”
• Sage, in another post, said the Trump Administration is pulling back from providing price support for rare earth elements.
• Shares of Critical Metals and MP Materials declined sharply overnight following the Reuters report.

Rare earth stocks MP Materials and Critical Metals traded barbs online after reports that the United States may pull back support for critical minerals companies by scrapping plans to set minimum price guarantees for their projects. The report sent shares of both companies sharply lower, adding to tensions between the rival players.

Shares of Critical Metals tumbled 10%, and MP Materials witnessed a sharp decline of over 4% in overnight trading, according to Yahoo Finance. MP Materials was one of the first companies to call out that the news was “inaccurate” and noted that any hint that the U.S. government is retreating from its commitments to MP Materials is simply false.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of its deal with MP Materials, said that it would guarantee a floor price of $110 per kilogram for the two most-popular rare earths, a price nearly twice the current Chinese market level.

CRML Vs MP

The reported change in stance by the Trump Administration, which made certain promises to the industry, comes at a time when rare earth stocks have been surging on the back of government support and are banking on a minimum price for critical mineral projects to help them compete with China.

However, within an hour of the Reuters report being published, Critical Metals Executive Chairman Tony Sage said the company “never has and never will need a floor price.” 

“We’re selling a unique concentrate with 27% heavies not the lights that need price support,” Sage said in a post on X.

MP Materials responded to Sage by taking a dig at Critical Metals’ performance. “Tony, that's amazing. I thought you sold nothing and had no revenue! My mistake!” MP Materials said in a post.

MP Materials has reported steady revenue over the past year, with $53.55 million in the latest quarter, compared to Critical Metals, which is still in its pre-revenue phase.

Sage, in another post, said the Trump Administration is pulling back from providing price support for rare earth elements. “CRML is selling a unique concentrate with 27% HREE [heavy rare earth elements], which WILL NOT require any price support mechanism like the ND/PR market. We support this free market approach,” he said.

“Remember 100% of our concentrate has already been pre sold and our business model is mine to processing without any price control mechanism,” Sage said.

MP Continues Outrage

Reuters reported that the pricing guarantee provided to MP raised concerns among administration officials and members of Congress about funding not authorized by Congress.

MP Materials hit back with another post after Reuters updated their story to say that the report “did not suggest that any part of MP's deal was in jeopardy.”

“Reuters has now updated the story again to say they didn’t actually imply the thing the whole article implied. Fascinating editorial process,” MP Materials said.

“My social media interns inform me this is what the kids call gaslighting,” the post read.

How Are Stocktwits Users Reacting?

Retail sentiment on Critical Metals dipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ from a week ago, while on MP Materials, sentiment improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ a day ago. 

A bearish user on Stocktwits said that the critical mineral stocks “are getting a sample of what the entire world has become accustomed to when dealing with the Trump Administration.”

Shares of Critical Metals are up 120%, and MP Materials stock has more than tripled in the last 12 months.

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