America's Only Rare Earth Mine Is Stuck in a Distressed Debt Dispute
- Oaktree pitted against JHL Capital and QVT over mineral rights
- Molycorp mine sits idle in bankruptcy amid creditor standoff
Terraced roads line the Molycorp Mountain Pass open pit mine in Mountain Pass, California.
Photographer: Jacob Kepler/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A long-running fight between distressed debt investors is threatening to scuttle the reopening of the only U.S. mine producing rare metals used in hybrid electric cars and some military hardware.
A court-appointed trustee for bankrupt Molycorp Minerals LLC will ask a judge Friday to approve the sale of the last remaining assets associated with a rare-earth mine at Mountain Pass, California. But a lawsuit over mineral rights and complaints by the losing bidder for those assets are complicating efforts to reopen the mine.