Oct. 6, 2009 (United Press International) -- A $3 million appropriations earmark for work at a California mine owned by profitable companies might be unnecessary, a non-partisan lobby group said.

The Molycorp Minerals open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., extracts elements used for magnets that are critical for guided missiles and smart bombs, as well as more pedestrian uses, such as hand held phones and hybrid cars.

The mine is owned by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and two private equity firms, Pegasus Partners and Resource Capital (NYSE:RSO) Funds, Politico reported Tuesday.

"It's probably good business, and we probably don't need to subsidize it," said Ryan Alexander, president of the non-partisan Taxpayers for Common Sense.

"DOD (the Department of Defense) can request programmatic funding so those funds are weighed against other security priorities rather than being singled out by one member of the House Appropriations Committee," he said.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., attached the earmark to a House Defense appropriations bill, Politico said.

"The United States has some of the most extensive deposits of these minerals in the world, but the cost of production has made it difficult to attract private investment," said Jim Specht,. a spokesman for Lewis' office.