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Molycorp Minerals LLC Closes on Purchase of Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mining Operations and Names Its New CEO

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 15:00 CDT

DENVER, CO, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Molycorp Minerals LLC ("Molycorp"), previously known as Rare Earth Acquisitions LLC, today announced that it has closed on the previously-announced purchase of the Mountain Pass rare earth mining operations from Chevron Mining Inc. The transaction closed on September 30, 2008.

Molycorp is also pleased to announce that Mark A. Smith has joined the company as its Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Mark was previously the President and CEO of Chevron Mining Inc.

Molycorp is a special purpose company owned by Resource Capital Fund IV L.P., Pegasus Partners IV, LP, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Traxys North America LLC and Carint Group LLC.

The Mountain Pass mine, located in California approximately 50 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada, is the only significant developed commercial rare earths resource in the western world. It has enough resources to provide significant levels of global supply for over 30 years.

The primary physical assets at Mountain Pass include the mine and ore resources, a flotation mill, and a specialty plant which further upgrades the milled concentrate. Mountain Pass also has large stockpiles of bastnaesite concentrates located on the property. The other significant asset is an experienced and highly skilled work force, including on site operations personnel and a rare earth products research and development team.

As President and Chief Executive Officer of Chevron Mining Inc., Mark Smith was responsible for the company's three coal mines, one molybdenum mine, a petroleum coke calcining operation and the Mountain Pass mine. Mr. Smith has previously held numerous engineering, environmental and legal positions within Unocal and later Chevron.

About the buyers:

Resource Capital Fund IV L.P. is the most recent in a series of private equity funds sponsored by Resource Capital Funds, all of which have specialized in global investments exclusively in the mining and minerals sector. Resource Capital Funds, with over $900 million in assets under management, was founded in 1998 and operates from offices in Denver, Colorado and Perth, Australia. For more information visit http://www.resourcecapitalfunds.com/.

Pegasus Partners IV, LP is an affiliate of Pegasus Capital Advisors, LP, a private equity firm that manages close to $1.8 billion in assets through several private equity funds. The firm provides creative capital solutions to middle market companies across a wide variety of industries, with a particular interest in businesses that make a meaningful contribution to society by positively affecting the environment, contributing to sustainability and enabling healthy living. For more information, visit the firm's website at http://www.pcalp.com/.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a bank holding company and a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world. For more information visit the firm's website http://www.gs.com/.

Traxys North America is an international physical metals and minerals marketing, distribution and trading company with over $4 billion in sales. For more information visit the company's website at http://www.traxys.com/. Carint Group is an affiliate of Traxys North America owned by the Traxys managers including Alan Docter and Mark Kristoff.

Resource Capital Fund IV L.P.

CONTACT: Ross Bhappu, Resource Capital Funds, rrb@rcflp.com, (720)946-1444

Source: PRNewswire

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