Until the 1980s, the United States led the world in rare earth production, thanks largely to the Mountain Pass mine.

1980年以前，美国主导世界稀土产品，主要得益于帕斯山的矿井。

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Meanwhile, the urgency has prompted Molycorp to raise $500m through a public offering to get its Mountain Pass mine restarted.

同时，稀土紧张局面促使Molycorp公司通过公开发行债券方式筹集5亿资金，重启帕斯山稀土矿。

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Molycorp intends to produce 3, 000 to 5, 000 tons of rare earths from stockpiled ore at its Mountain Pass mine this year and has big expansion plans.

Molycorp公司计划今年以它在帕斯山矿井储存的矿石生产3000到5000吨稀土，同时有了大的扩建计划。

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Due to this almost-complete dependence on foreign sources, Molycorp is now looking to reopen its Mountain Pass mine in California and there is growing pressure on Congress to authorize the much-needed stockpiling of strategic minerals.

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The Mountain Pass mine, which had been bought in 1977 by Unocal, the oil company, began running into all kinds of regulatory problems concerning waste disposal, just as it was losing market share to cheaper Chinese competitors.

FORBES: The Politics of Rare Earth

From the 1960s until the 1980s, the Mountain Pass mine in California made the US the world leader in rare earth production, but it was later closed, largely due to competition with the elements imported from China.

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