Caught between China and Trump, Apple spends $500M on rare earth recycling

Apple has signed a deal with the only active rare earth mine under American control to begin sourcing magnets for its iDevices from the US - but not from the mine itself: Apple's going to recycle. 

Apple announced the multi-year, $500 million deal between it and MP Materials, touting how this not only includes a commitment "to buying American-made rare earth magnets developed at MP Materials," but also includes the establishment of a recycling line at MP's Mountain Pass, California site. 

"We are proud to partner with Apple to launch MP's recycling platform and scale up our magnetics business," MP founder, chairman, and CEO James Litinsky said in a statement.

The deal will work like this: Apple commits to buying rare-earth magnets from MP that are 100 percent recycled, but in order to do that, MP needs a recycling center, which Apple is helping to develop. 

The pair ...