entity Updated 2026-07-24 Tags: Person, Rare-Earths, Mining, Industrial-Policy

Mark Smith

Mark Smith is the rare-earth executive whose career anchors Battlefield rare earths: How the U.S. lost to China. The episode says he joined Molycorp around 1987 or 1988, later became CEO, and tried to revive the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine through Project Phoenix after the 2010 Japan rare-earth shock made Chinese dominance visible.

Smith’s role is partly operational and partly cautionary. He remembers Molycorp’s unsold cerium and lanthanum as early evidence that China was undercutting U.S. producers, and he later argues that relying entirely on China grows more dangerous as rare earths become more important. The source also preserves his allegation that China released product to crash rare-earth prices after Project Phoenix expanded, while noting there was no “smoking gun.”

The later part of the episode places Smith at NioCorp, where he is trying to develop a rare-earth mine in Nebraska. That role connects him to State-Backed Rare Earth Rebuilding, because he describes meetings with U.S. defense, commerce, interior, and White House officials and says he would welcome direct government equity.

Connections

Molycorp and Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine - earlier operating context.
Project Phoenix - comeback attempt he led.
NioCorp - later company where he works on a new U.S. rare-earth mine.
Rare Earth Processing Bottleneck, Rare Earth Export Leverage, and Dominant Producer Price Discipline - concepts his story makes concrete.