Key Points A year ago, MP Materials was at the mercy of China. Today, it's backed by cash -- and price guarantees -- from the U.S. government. 10 stocks we like better than MP Materials › As recently as a year ago, rare-earth metals miner MP Materials (NYSE: MP) was looking kind of hopeless. On the one hand, MP Materials was practically the only company in the U.S. trying to do something about America's absolute dependence on China for rare-earth magnets (and rare-earth oxide mining and refining), ...