Molycorp Minerals has decided to invest in Boulder Wind Power, a wind turbine maker. The green energy company is trying to raise $35 million in capital by selling convertible preferred stock.
The investment will net Molycorp a representative on the board of the Colorado based company. Molycorp will also become the preferred provider of rare earth magnets and alloys for the wind generators of Boulder Wind Power.
Sandy Butterfield, chief executive of Boulder Wind Power said that gaining access to Molycorp's magnetic rare earth materials positions this superior technology to accelerate rapidly and our company to grow with it.
Mark A. Smith, Molycorp’s President and Chief Executive Officer said that Boulder Wind Power’s innovative technology promises to dramatically accelerate the global deployment of high-efficiency, advanced wind turbines. He added that this investment also furthered Molycorp’s ‘mine-to-magnets’ business strategy, and their commitment to manufacturing value-added ‘green energy materials,’ by providing them with potentially large markets for the magnetic rare earth materials they will produce.
The CEO’s sentiments were appreciated by Dan Arvizu, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Mr Arvizu said that linking such an innovative wind energy technology with U.S. sourced rare earth production creates many potentially powerful synergies. He added that it promised to strengthen the ability of the U.S. to manufacture wind turbines domestically and to compete more effectively in global markets.