The Denton County Commissioners Court approved a 10-year tax abatement for MP Materials to possibly build a new facility in the county.
What happened?
Commissioners Bobbie Mitchell, Kevin Falconer and Ryan Williams all voted in favor of the abatement Jan. 29 during a regular Commissioners Court meeting. Commissioner Dianne Edmondson and Judge Andy Reid were not present for the vote.
The move allows MP Materials to incur a 10-year tax break of 50% of real and personal property taxes, which will add up to $9.3 million, according to Denton County documents.
A location in the town of Northlake is being considered as a second location for a new MP Materials manufacturing plant, according to town documents. This plant, which is referred to as the “10X Facility,” would be a more than $1 billion investment from MP Materials.
Northlake Town Council approved the tax abatement at its Jan. 22 meeting. The site of the new manufacturing facilities would be located at Harmonson Road and Farm Road 156 in Northlake, according to Denton County documents. MP Materials already has a location in the Alliance area of Fort Worth, which is the first rare-earth production facility in the country.
Diving deeper
If the second plant is built in Denton County, one of the requirements is hiring at least 1,000 full-time employees with an average annual salary of $74,315, according to court documents.
The company announced a multibillion-dollar, public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense in July.
MP Materials has not formally announced where the second U.S.-based plant will be.
The backstory
MP Materials received a $58.5 million award to advance its construction of America’s first fully integrated rare earth magnet manufacturing facility in AllianceTexas, according to previous reporting. The facility commenced commercial production of rare earth metal Jan. 22, 2025.
MP Materials signed a long-term agreement worth $500 million with Apple to supply the technology giant with rare earth magnets, Community Impact previously reported.
The company produces United States-sourced and manufactured rare earth materials, alloy and finished magnets for the electric motors in more than a dozen models for General Motors, according to its website.
The magnets produced by MP Materials can also be used in robots, wind turbines, drones, defense systems and many other high-growth technologies.
