Hello and welcome to the MP Materials special event investor call . We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you will be given instructions for the question and answer session. Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Martin Sheehan, Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Sheehan, you may now begin.
Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the MP Materials special event call to discuss our landmark private-public partnership with the Department of Defense. With me today from MP Materials are Jim Litinsky, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Rosenthal, Founder and Chief Operating Officer; and Ryan Corbett, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements relating to future events and expectations that are subject to various assumptions and caveats. Factors that may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in today's presentation, the related press release, and in our SEC filings. In addition, this presentation includes some illustrative examples of forward-looking estimates of adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP measure. Because these are illustrative examples and forward-looking estimates, we are unable to present a quantitative reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.
Lastly, any reference to our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA, and tons means metric tons. Please also note that the related press release and slide presentation are available on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim. Jim?
Thank you, Martin. Good morning, everyone. Today marks a truly transformative moment for MP Materials and for the United States. Earlier this morning, we announced the formation of a landmark public-private partnership with the Department of Defense. Before I get into the details of today's announcement, I want to express our deep gratitude to President Trump, our partners at the Pentagon, our customers, our shareholders, and our employees. Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment. At MP, our mission is to restore the full rare earth supply chain to the United States. As many of you know, we have been at this for quite some time, both executing on our mission as well as screaming from the rooftops about the importance of eliminating America's single point of failure in the supply chain.
Recent events have clearly heightened the urgency of our mission, and I am proud that our work has helped put America in a better position. We are honored to be called upon, and we are answering that call. We understand that this partnership is ultimately on behalf of the taxpayers and our national security, and with that comes a great responsibility to get this done right. Moreover, across the political spectrum, leaders and citizens alike understand the stakes. Securing America's supply of rare earth materials and magnets is essential to our economic and national security. Today, President Trump and the Department of Defense are taking bold, decisive action at precisely the right moment, and they deserve real credit for elevating this to a national priority. Let's now walk through the structure of our partnership on slide four.
This initiative represents a long-term, multi-billion dollar commitment to accelerate American rare earth supply chain independence. There are three main pillars. DOD investment in strategic capital, an NDPR price floor commitment, and a 10x magnet manufacturing expansion. First, the Department of Defense is making a $400 million investment in MP in the form of convertible preferred equity. This investment converts at a fixed price of $30.03 per share and has no cash dividend. It has a 7% annual paid-in-kind liquidation preference should the preferred not convert to common. In addition, DOD will receive a 10-year warrant, also exercisable at $30.03 per share, which increases their underlying, as converted, as exercised ownership to 15% of our pre-transaction shares outstanding. DOD is also providing a $150 million, 12-year loan specifically to fund the expansion of our heavy rare earth separation capabilities.
The loan is at a fixed interest rate that will be set as the 10-year treasury rate just prior to the draw, plus 100 basis points. We expect that to fund within 30 days. Second, DOD has committed to make sure MP achieves a $110 per kilogram price floor for all of our NDPR products, concentrate, oxide, and metal. If the market price is below $110, we will receive a quarterly cash top-up payment from DOD for the difference. That price protection on NDPR products will apply whether we sell or stockpile the materials. Importantly, there's a shared upside in this agreement. Once our new magnet facility, what we call 10x, achieves its target capacity, the DOD will receive 30% of the upside above the $110 per kilogram threshold. The price floor commitment contract is for a 10-year term beginning in Q4. Now, onto the 10x facility.
MP will construct this new plant as part of our next major phase of magnet manufacturing expansion. Between 10x and our Independence Facility, which we will also begin to expand, we are targeting 10,000 metric tons of annual capacity, enough to meaningfully support U.S. defense and commercial needs. DOD has made a 100% offtake commitment for 10x related production to satisfy defense volumes and support commercial syndication. The offtake is structured with cost-plus pricing, with a $140 million annual EBITDA guarantee, with a 2% escalator starting in 2026. Once again, we structured this with aligned incentives. The DOD will receive the first $30 million of upside beyond the $140 million EBITDA floor, and any EBITDA beyond $170 million will be shared equally between MP and DOD. The offtake agreement has a 10-year term that begins at 10x commissioning.
With that, I will hand it over to Ryan to go through more detail on all of this. Ryan?
Thanks, Jim. Let's move to slide five, which outlines the NDPR price floor commitment. This agreement is foundational to our broader public-private partnership with the Department of Defense and is designed to counter non-market forces that have historically held back the establishment of a scaled, secure, domestic supply chain for rare earth magnets. While many people appreciate that subscale refining capacity represents an industry bottleneck, we know that the most pronounced choke point is actually in magnet manufacturing, and the two are interdependent. Therefore, it is imperative that we secure the foundational capabilities that MP has built in both upstream beneficiation and midstream refining that have enabled our growth into a downstream magnet manufacturer. In other words, without a resilient upstream and midstream source of magnet feedstock and a scaled capability to recycle the sword from magnet finishing, we cannot and will not have a resilient magnetics industry in America.
This is where the partnership with the government begins, providing the certainty and economics needed to secure this important capacity for our country while shielding against foreign market manipulation. The NDPR price floor agreement establishes a minimum realized price for our materials of $110 per kilogram of NDPR. The minimum price floor covers all of our NDPR-containing products, concentrate, oxide, and metal, and will provide for a floor price adjustment whether we are selling the product, stockpiling it, or consuming it in our magnetics business. This minimum price floor agreement begins at the start of the fourth quarter and runs for 10 years. Functionally, each quarter that the market price of NDPR is below $110 per kilogram, the Department of Defense will provide a payment to MP Materials covering the difference between the market-based benchmark price and $110 multiplied by the quantity of our products sold, stockpiled, and/or consumed.
We believe this construct provides a reasonable and responsible level of minimum economics needed to properly incentivize a fully integrated domestic magnet material supply chain at scale. In addition, this framework is a win-win for MP and the Department of Defense and U.S. taxpayers, as we will share upside should market prices exceed $110 per kilogram, which we continue to believe is a strong possibility, with DOD entitled to receive 30% of the value above that threshold. The graph on the screen should give you a sense of how this benefits both the company and DOD. Note also that the upside sharing commences once the 10x facility is able to produce at its target capacity of 7,000 metric tons. Which takes us to slide six.
As Jim mentioned, we are also announcing the construction of our 10x facility, which, when combined with our expanded Independence Facility, will grow MP's downstream business to an estimated 10,000 metric tons of magnet manufacturing capacity. We are going to undertake a comprehensive site selection process and expect to begin construction as soon as possible, taking the various lessons learned from Independence and working to rapidly bring capacity online to meet both market demand and U.S. strategic objectives. The 10x facility offtake agreement is a 10-year commitment by the DOD to purchase 100% of our new facility's production capacity. The 10-year commitment begins once the facility is commissioned, and the economics of the EBITDA guarantee scale as we put that targeted full capacity of 7,000 metric tons of finished magnet equivalent into service.
The agreement calls for the DOD to purchase magnets in a cost-plus structure, where we expect the 10x facility to generate a minimum of $140 million of EBITDA on an annual basis. The $140 million minimum also carries with it an annual 2% escalator starting in 2026. In addition, as capacity is syndicated to third-party defense and commercial customers over time, we expect significant potential upside above this minimum guaranteed EBITDA level. As Jim noted, the DOD will capture the first $30 million of incremental realized EBITDA up to $170 million, and we will then split any further upside equally with the Department of Defense. The right side of the slide gives several different theoretical examples to demonstrate the upside opportunity for both MP and the Department of Defense.
Importantly, while magnets produced at Independence are not covered under this offtake agreement, our demand pipeline with commercial customers gives us the confidence to embark on expanding Independence to its full 3,000-ton capacity, where we continue to expect to generate attractive returns on capital. Another important aspect of this agreement is that DOD and MP will collaborate on sourcing of heavy rare earth feedstock, with Mountain Pass positioned as a refiner of choice for the Western world. The DOD's role here isn't just about meeting its own demand. It's about catalyzing the build-out of U.S. manufacturing at scale to serve the broader U.S. economy. Rare earth magnets are essential inputs to manufactured goods at the heart of our industrial base, from cars and electronics to drones and robots.
The 10-year window of this offtake gives us the cash flow certainty and runway needed to accelerate the build-out of our downstream business and realize the economies of scale necessary to establish a competitive position in the global marketplace. With the start of commercial production at Independence serving as the foundation late this year, an exciting expansion close behind it, and 10x entering commissioning by year-end 2028, we are well on our way to achieving full vertical integration and meeting the rapidly growing needs of the Western magnetics market. Moving to slide seven, I want to pull together the various pieces of this announcement to lay out the earnings profile of MP Materials as we move into this next phase of growth.
Starting with our materials segment, if you assume the minimum $110 per kilogram market price floor for our targeted NDPR production and the related target cost structure, and add in our magnetic segment, which here we are illustrating with very conservative assumptions on an expanded Independence Facility, along with the 10x facility at its minimum $140 million of EBITDA, and including the burden of unallocated corporate costs, we see pro forma annual EBITDA exceeding $650 million, with ample levers for further upside. To talk about that opportunity set, I will hand it back to Jim.
Thanks, Ryan. Let's stay on this slide because I want to reiterate the importance of what we are showing you here. As a result of this partnership, MP now has a variety of contracted cash flows backed by the United States government that extends for at least the next decade. This long-term financial visibility reinforces MP's role as a trusted partner and is a highly valuable cash flow stream in and of itself. Yet, we believe there is significant potential upside ahead. MP retains substantial exposure to NDPR pricing, positioning us to benefit from market strength over time. We also expect to grow our NDPR products business over time via Upstream 60K, while our magnetic segment remains a powerful growth engine with considerable runway. Together, these drivers give us confidence in our potential to outperform over the long term.
Lastly, with our position as a national champion reinforced by a durable and scalable economic platform, we believe MP is uniquely positioned to unlock significant new opportunities in all the major streams of our current business and beyond over time. Let's wrap up on slide eight. This transaction is a win-win-win. It's a win for MP shareholders. It's a win for the United States government and U.S. commercial industry, and it's a win for American taxpayers. It dramatically accelerates the build-out of a fully integrated, scaled rare earth supply chain right here in the United States, directly addressing a major economic and national security vulnerability. It helps safeguard trillions of dollars in downstream enterprise value across American industries focused on physical AI and other dual-use technologies, securing a foundation that is core to America's role as a global economic and technological leader.
It aligns public and private interests through shared upside and strict performance expectations, creating true accountability and partnership. Ultimately, it reinforces MP's role as a national champion with the scale, durability, and economic firepower to lead America's reindustrialization in this critical sector. In closing, we recognize the profound significance of today's announcement. It marks not just a milestone for MP, but a model for what is possible when the public and private sector come together with a shared purpose. We hope this milestone serves as a catalyst for continued collaboration, combining American ingenuity with sustained leadership from Washington to rebuild one strategic supply chain at a time. With that, let's open up the call for Q&A. Operator?
Thank you. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please click on the raise hand button, which can be found on the black bar at the bottom of your screen. When it is your turn, you will receive a message on your screen from the host allowing you to talk, and then you will hear your name called. Please accept, unmute your audio, and ask your question. We will wait just one moment to allow the queue to form. Okay, our first question will come from Ben Kallo from Baird. Ben, you may now unmute your audio and ask your question.
Hey, good morning, guys.
Good morning.
Thank you.
Maybe a lot to unpack. Maybe first, just on the $110. That price, could you talk about how you guys got there? Then number two, just on 10x and the future output of that. Does that all go to DOD, or do you guys find customers through that? And then maybe a follow-up after that.
All right, thanks, Ben. Hey, this is Jim. I guess congratulations to you as well. As a taxpayer, you have a very large mark-to-market gain this morning. Actually, Ryan, why do not you cover $110 and 10x?
Sure.
In the.
Yeah, morning, Ben. You know, I think the deal that we announced today is a partnership that was negotiated with multiple prongs to it. I think the important thing to keep in mind on looking at that particular price is this is all a package that was negotiated in a way to incentivize the conditions that are necessary to enable accelerated vertical integration at scale. I think that's the major message. As it relates to 10x and the customer set, I think the important thing from an investor perspective is the DOD is standing behind the full volumes. Certainly, as you can see from the structure that we negotiated, I think both the Department of Defense and MP believe that there is quite significant upside to that minimum, which we believe would come from.
Syndicating much of that volume out to commercial customers once we have ensured that DOD's needs are satisfied.
Maybe just last one, and then I'll jump back in. Just more short-term, the plan you laid out for stage two and kind of ramping as fast as you can, does that change in light of this? On 10x, could you just talk about the ability to procure equipment in the timeline that you gave? I know there's guarantees here, but just anything you can talk to on that. Thank you, guys.
Yeah, sure. Thank you. Short-term, no, nothing has changed. Obviously, we were working to ramp and continue to work to ramp as quickly as possible. Obviously, today's news and this partnership, the goal of the partnership is to catalyze much more of our supply chain as quickly as possible. Obviously, we want to accelerate our efforts, but really accelerate the scale of our efforts. What I would say, just a thought on 10x, you may remember this, Ben, but when we originally started building out Independence, and this goes back to 2021, it was always sort of top of mind that that would be the first of a number of facilities or the first of much bigger production.
We spent a lot of time as a team thinking about the equipment, and not just the equipment for that facility, but how we would be able to modularly expand within that facility and then in other facilities. Also, thinking about sourcing of equipment and making sure that to the extent that our vision around single point of failure came true, that we would be able to build this out. I think we have done all that. I think we have a lot of that advanced work in thinking about 10x and how we are going to do that. We have been thinking about it for a number of years.
Thanks. Great. Next question.
Thank you. Our next question comes from George Gianarikas from Canaccord Genuity. George, could you unmute your mic and ask a question?
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions and just enormous news. So congratulations from me as well.
Thank you. Good morning.
Good morning. Could you just help us compartmentalize the 10,000 tons of capacity that you'll have post-construction of 10x? That first 1,000 is dedicated, I believe, to GM. Is the additional 2,000 Independence, is that DOD-related? Can you help us maybe quantify how much DOD demand is there and how much there is for potential commercial-related capacity from the final product?
Sure. Hey, George, it's Ryan. You have most of that right. Obviously, the first 1,000 tons at Independence is related to GM volumes. As we mentioned in the announcement, the 2,000-ton expansion that we are looking to undertake will be available for commercial customers. We're in discussions with many customers, and clearly, as you've seen from starting in early April, the focus on moving this supply chain to the United States has been pretty extraordinary. As it relates to the 10x facility, obviously, you add all the numbers up, you get to 10, which leaves 7 for 10x. What I'd say there is what DOD is focused on here is not just satisfying their needs. It is focused on ensuring that there is a scaled domestic industry, and that starts with vertical integration at scale. And so from that perspective.
We certainly feel very, very confident that DOD's needs will be met out of this facility. We believe that there is pretty significant incremental opportunity to bring quite a few commercial businesses into the fold in that facility.
I would just add one thought on that, George, which, as you know, you've heard me say a number of times, the big growth area over the coming three to five years and beyond. Aside from general electrification, which is growing, is physical AI, right? You have a lot of people talking about how they expect robotics to be the biggest industry ever. Clearly, drones and robots are the future of warfare. I think we see that around the world. Again, you've heard me say that. Direct demand versus just the downstream supply chain of commercial industry that have dual-use applications, it's somewhat of a colliding area, so to speak. Again, this is really important to have this supply chain in place to enable both military and dual-use applications.
Thank you. Maybe as one follow-up, so if my memory serves, when you first announced Independence, you said that less than 10% of your NDPR capacity would be dedicated to that, which sort of implies that you have enough NDPR even before 60K to feed 10x. You also mentioned that you're looking for feed stock for heavies outside of your own feed stock. Is that math right, that your entire NDPR production will be dedicated to 10x and then your feed stock will eventually come from outside sources and refine that at Mountain Pass?
Yeah. Hey, George, it's Ryan. I think generally the math is right. It obviously really depends on the type of magnet that we're talking about to get you to the exact amount of NDPR content. I wouldn't underestimate also our ability to bring some of the swerve back into the fold. Even at 10,000 tons of magnets, depending on the types of magnets, we may still have excess capacity. It will take us some real time to get to full vertical integration. Obviously, it's important that we continue to support our third-party customers with NDPR content. In general, that is the right way to think about it. As it relates to your question and comments on heavy rare earth feed stock, as you saw from.
Some of the features of this announcement, there will be further investment in Mountain Pass for heavy rare earth separation. We're well on our way to getting that done, and we'll continue investment into that, which positions Mountain Pass really as a refiner of choice in the Western world. To bring to bear the various feed stocks that are out there that can't support the economics of building out a full point solution for refining on their own. I think that's another important facet of this agreement, it is a critical enabler for the rest of the industry to come along and build out to support scaled magnet manufacturing. I think you have that right as well, and it's an important part of this agreement.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from David Deckelbaum from TD Cowen. David, please ask your question.
Thank you for taking my questions. Congrats, Jim, Ryan, Michael, and team on a pretty momentous milestone.
Thank you.
I did want to ask. You laid out the timeline with targeted commissioning of 10x in 2028. Can you talk about just sort of the near-term management of the business in the context of selling NDPR versus stockpiling concentrate until then? Because obviously, you're receiving an incentive price, it seems like with immediate effect now to stockpile the concentrate. We should see that immediate uplift to EBITDA in the third quarter. How are you thinking about kind of ramping towards that stage two nameplate to satisfy what you would need in that 10x expansion over the next few years?
Sure, David. Yeah, I think the way that we think about it and to Jim's earlier comments on the ramp of stage two, we are still absolutely focused on ramping stage two capacity as quickly as possible. There's very significant demand from the ex-China market that is continuing to grow for our NDPR products, and we expect to continue to meet the demands of our customers over the next many, many years. From that perspective, there really is no change. Certainly, to the extent we are producing excess con in the very short term over and above what we're able to refine, this does provide a benefit to that from the perspective of being able to be receiving the minimum price floor on the NDPR content contained within that concentrate. It really does not change the way that we're managing the business. We see that.
With everything we've seen in the market, a healthy ex-China magnet market is beginning to form, and we expect to be able to meet both the internal demand and external demand of that market.
I appreciate that. I'm also curious how much of this plan, as you think about the future, will contain capacity for recycling materials or refining or receiving third-party feed, as the content requirements here for some of your future ambitions are quite large.
I think this all speaks to the power of vertical integration, which we've talked about, as you know. Having all of these capabilities in-house. Really being able to mine, refine, and make magnets. Obviously the benefits of receiving third-party feed and/or recycling. There's a sort of a virtuous positive cycle there that really speaks to the importance of being vertically integrated. That obviously enables a broader supply chain to form as well. I don't know if that answers your question as far as the plan, but that's kind of all my thoughts on that.
I'm sort of just curious if you're envisioning, in conjunction with the DOD, if there is going to be an increase in available third-party feed in the United States to maybe help you bridge some gaps should you need some additional content.
Sure. For sure, being the only refiner in the Western world means that we are the logical home for third-party feeds around the world. Again, obviously, from a refining standpoint, there are two choices. There is the Chinese sphere of influence or there is MP. I think that puts us in a really good position. I think part of the goal of this transaction is making sure that MP is positioned strong as a national champion with the economic platform to really have the firepower to build this out. I do think that there are going to be a lot of growth opportunities. Part of this agreement, it was part of the discussion throughout, but we expect to continue to collaborate with DOD on sourcing. I mean, that is a big part of this. We now have, I think.
Couldn't get any better as far as a partner and large shareholder. We're really excited about that. We expect to continue to collaborate with DOD in growing out this supply chain.
Thanks, guys. Congrats again.
Sure.
Our next question comes from Lawson Winder from Bank of America. Oh, it looks like Lawson has actually lowered their hand. Okay. Our next question comes from Corinne Blanchard from Deutsche Bank. Corinne, please ask your question.
Good morning, team. Congratulations. This is pretty exciting news for you guys. The first question I have is on the shareholder base. I think Shenghe currently has about 8% or 9%. Does the deal with the DOE involve for you to make any change just because of the nature of U.S. versus China relationship, or does that not have any impact?
Hey, Corinne, it's Ryan. Yeah. As it relates to Shenghe and the distribution relationship, obviously, we've appreciated them as a distribution partner. Following this announcement, as you'll see in the transaction agreements, we'll no longer be selling into the Chinese market. As it relates to their shareholding, obviously, we can't speak for them. To our knowledge, they remain a shareholder, but what they will do with their stake over time is obviously up to them.
All right. Thank you. The second question is kind of two-part, but quickly, can you remind us of the CapEx that you think you will need for one kiloton of magnet? The second is on Mountain Pass. I mean, you have alluded a few times, obviously, that you will be revisiting the mine plan. How could an expansion or a revised mine plan look like in terms of capacity and in terms of CapEx over the next three to five years?
Yeah. Sure, Corinne. I'll start. Then, Michael, if you've got anything to add on the mine plan, please jump in. What we laid out from a CapEx guidance perspective as it relates to Independence was that that facility was roughly $350 million of investment. That obviously included a really significant buildout of foundational capabilities that will be used to enable us to accelerate further capacity expansion, i.e., 10x. Certainly, the ability to modularly add incremental volume within Independence is critical and will come at a much lower capital intensity per unit of production. I would say that stay tuned for our earnings call on further guidance on CapEx, but certainly, you've seen throughout the transaction agreements the commitments that we've received to date for funding 10x. Obviously, with.
The transformation to our business model here and cash flow and cash flow predictability, that gives us a ton of flexibility in terms of capital. On the mine plan. Even at full vertical integration, right, what we're talking about. Has been 6,000 tons of NDPR oxide production roughly. And even at full vertical integration, we more than cover that with the existing mine plan out nearly 30 years. That's with really conservative assumptions and a cutoff grade that I continue to believe is too high. But we will prove that out over time with various initiatives, including some of the items that are part of upstream 60K. I would say also stay tuned on that. I don't know, Michael, anything else you'd add on that?
I think you mostly covered it. I think as part of the 60K initiative, we've been obviously looking at how to maximize the value and duration of the mine plan, and we'll continue to do that. Now we have the additional consideration of some of the things that we've talked about earlier, including recycling and potentially additional third-party feed stocks.
All right. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Laurence Alexander from Jefferies. Laurence, please ask your question.
Good morning. Congratulations. Two quick ones. First, does the DOD agreement, you mentioned that you can sell the supply to commercial parties, are you open to selling those SKUs to other militaries, whether in NATO or not? Secondly, can you discuss how much you need to build out your engineering task force? I believe currently you've said you have about 40 to support the auto OEMs. Third, is this sort of a minimum structure for how you think about auto OEM contracts given the bandwidth the company has? I mean, like the distraction of doing a full expansion to satisfy a new auto OEM partner?
Sure, Laurence. A lot there. I think, I mean, just starting big picture. High level. Yes, we certainly will be growing the team. We'll be working in parallel as we expand Independence and bring on 10x. On the auto front, I mean, I think it's obviously we're really excited. GM is our foundational customer at Independence, and we're bringing that online, as you know. And so we're ready to serve their needs and looking forward to that. It's a great milestone for us. From magnets, obviously, we're already supplying intermediate product to them. But then I would view, I think from a 10x standpoint, you're going to see a variety of customers. As I said earlier in the call. There are a lot of growth areas around physical AI. And some of those areas will have different kinds of magnets, different content.
I think broadly, engineering-wise, we expect to serve a variety of customers. I would just leave it at that, that we expect to serve a variety of customers. You want to next question?
Our last question comes from, sorry, Bill Peterson from JPMorgan. Bill, please ask your question.
Yeah. Hi, good morning. Congrats on all the news here this morning. I have a kind of a bigger picture set of questions to start with. I’d like to kind of understand how you view the rare earth landscape shaping up in the US from here. Trying to get a sense for this agreement and the separation magnets. Is this being part of a much larger public partnership? Are there more opportunities for MP? Would you expect the DOD to want MP to acquire additional assets or supply security, especially in the case of heavies? I’m just trying to get a sense of dominate and can play a role.
Sure. I mean, I think. Certainly, I would remind you to kind of go back and look at slide seven and see the overnight transformation of our business from an economic standpoint. I'd like to think we've been the national champion for quite some time, but now I think it's fair to say we're not only a national champion, but we have a very powerful economic platform. I think that does sort of open up broader opportunity. What I would say, and as Ryan referenced earlier, we're certainly going to collaborate with DOD on stuff going forward, but make no mistake, as you know from me from day one, we're a shareholder-driven company. We're going to try to maximize value for shareholders. I think as far as the landscape goes, there's going to be a lot of opportunity.
I think this will open up opportunity for others. Certainly, as you know, we look at all three things, buy, build, and/or JV. All of those things are always on the table. We'll continue to be opportunistic like we have for nearly five years as a public company. By the way, it's officially eight years to the day that Michael and I bought the assets out of bankruptcy that ultimately became MP. We've been at this quite some time. I think our platform and our vertical integration will continue to open up opportunities as they have historically. Obviously, with all of that, I want to just stress again that you must execute. I think that, first and foremost, we think it's very important to maintain an execution culture.
Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do just with this partnership. I'm confident that we'll execute it well, but we'll continue to look forward as we do that, of course.
Thanks, Tim, for that context. You might have partially answered my next question, but I think I want to try to make it 100% clear. In terms of capital allocation with this partnership, are there any limitations on areas such as shareholder returns, either dividends or buybacks, involvement in terms of capital raises, or is there any involvement from the DOE on operations or any operational investment decisions?
No. I mean, DOD is now a large economic stakeholder, but they're passive. If you look at the documents, they have to vote with us on all material matters. Make no mistake, we maintain that MP is going to continue to be a very opportunistic public company. I said throughout that I think this is obviously a total transformation, but I think we have a significant amount of upside from here. I think if you look at sort of what we view as, if I can use these words in quote, a new sort of floor or roughly contracted amount of cash flow over the next decade, it's pretty dramatic when you look at that math. Again, I think this is sort of a new beginning for us with the transformation, but this is absolutely an opportunistically focused public company. We need to do.
A key part of this deal, again, which I think is so unique and revolutionary, is that the DOD has real upside sharing. They negotiated a very tough deal, and the taxpayers are going to make a lot of money. I think you really have to credit, again, I said it at the beginning a couple of times, but President Trump and his team and all the people at the Pentagon. This was just a win-win-win where it is structured, where we're getting an important national security need met, but we're maintaining our free market public company approach here. I think there's going to be upside, significant upside for taxpayers. Hopefully that answers your question.
Yeah. No, it does. Thank you. And congrats again.
Thank you.
That concludes the question and support of today's call. I will now hand the call back to Mr. Litinsky for closing remarks.
Okay. All right. I just want to, again, I just did it, but I want to thank the Trump administration, the DOD, and then, of course, all of our other stakeholders. Today is obviously a very exciting day for us at MP. I think it is a new beginning. We now have a much broader economic platform, and we have to get back and maintain our execution culture, and we will do that. We look forward to seeing you all on the next earnings call. Have a great day.