MP Materials is stitching together a new rare earths hub in Saudi Arabia, teaming up with Riyadh’s state miner Ma’aden, and strikingly, Washington itself. The plan is to build a refinery inside the kingdom that can take mixed concentrates from Saudi deposits and elsewhere and separate them into high-value oxides across the spectrum of “light” and “heavy” rare earths.

Under the structure announced, Ma’aden will hold a controlling 51% stake, while MP and the U.S. government, already set to become MP’s largest shareholder through a Pentagon investment, will jointly own the remaining 49%. The timing coincides with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Washington visit and signals that energy and security ties are being recast around critical minerals, not just oil.

Metal producers and consumers in Europe have urged the European Union (EU) to increase its investments in expanding processing capacity for critical minerals necessary for the energy transition, including those used in electric vehicles.

European Union countries are negotiating changes to the bloc’s gas storage regulations that could loosen this year’s winter fuel obligations—if the new rules are finalised in time. The ongoing talks focus on reforming the bloc’s gas storage targets for 2026 and 2027.

A key change under discussion is replacing the current binding requirement to fill gas storage sites to 90% by November 1 with a more flexible timeframe—allowing countries to reach the 90% level at any point between October 1 and December 1. While this shift is intended for future years, EU diplomats say the revised schedule could also apply in 2025, provided the new law is finalised and published in the EU’s official journal before November 1 of this year.