Rare earth materials producer MP Materials Corp. recently started work on a new, $700 million production facility for rare earth metals, alloys, and magnets in Fort Worth, TX. The company said the facility will be the first of its kind in the United States.

The company entered into a definitive supply agreement in December to provide alloy and magnets for General Motors’ (GM) electric vehicle (EV) programs. Finished magnets, alloys, and rare earth materials supplied by MP Materials will be used in electric motors for over 12 EV car models.

“The new MP Materials magnetics facility in Fort Worth, TX will play a key role in GM’s journey to build a secure, scalable, and sustainable EV supply chain,” said Anirvan Coomer, executive director, global purchasing and supply chain, for GM, in a release. “As the foundational automotive customer of the Fort Worth facility, GM will use the products from this plant in the GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac LYRIQ, Chevrolet Silverado EV, and more than a dozen models based on GM’s Ultimum platform.”

Featuring a capacity of 1,000 tn/yr of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, the MP Materials site will enable GM to produce 500,000 EV traction motors annually. The magnets are also used in drones, robots, wind turbines, defense systems, and more.

“The United States needs to do everything we can to end our dangerous dependence on China for rare earth elements and critical minerals across the entire supply chain,” Sen. Ted Cruz said in a statement. “It is both significant and important that MP Materials is going beyond mining and into alloying and manufacturing, and I’m deeply proud of the role Texas is playing in these projects.”

MP Materials received $35 million in February from the US Department of Defense (DOD) to refine and separate heavy earth elements at the firm’s rare earth materials production site in Mountain Pass, CA. The Fort Worth location will process refined feedstock from the California plant.