heavy capital needs and lower prices in the China-dominated market, Oaktree Capital Group had won the bidding to provide up to $400 million of senior restructuring finance. Molycorp filed for bankruptcy protection in late June 2015, after changing competitive circumstances, declining prices on output and a 2014 restructuring. At the same time it announced an agreement "with major creditors to restructure its $1.70 billion debt load". It was purchased by its largest creditor Oaktree Capital Management and was reorganized as Neo Performance Materials. Operations Mountain Pass mine The company’s principal asset was the Mountain Pass rare earth mine, which once supplied the majority of the world's rare earth elements. The mine was previously owned by Unocal. The mine closed in 2002, but reopened in 2010. Because of the competition from China, the mine became unprofitable. In the reorganization process of Molycorp, the mine was separated from the company and scheduled to be sold in March 2017 at the auction in bankruptcy court, with a $40 million opening offer. International business In December 2010, Japanese firms Sumitomo and Mitsubishi signed agreements to be supplied with rare earths by Molycorp. US-based fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst manufacturer W.R. Grace & Co. similarly signed a supply agreement with Molycorp in November 2010. Molycorp was to supply W.R. Grace & Co. with an undisclosed amount of lanthanum and cerium, essential components for FCC catalyst manufacturing through 2015. Molycorp additionally owns one of the few processing plants outside China—Molycorp Silmet—that it had purchased in Estonia in 2011. References Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Colorado Mining companies of the United States Rare earth companies Superfund sites in New Mexico Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 2010 initial public offerings Metal companies of the United States