Latest news with #Ramaco
Business Mayor
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
How this coal company could help break U.S. dependence on China for rare earths
FILE PHOTO: Coal moves on an overland belt from inside the newly opened Ramaco Resources Inc. Stonecoal Alma mine near Wylo, West Virginia, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images A small coal miner headquartered in Kentucky could play an important role in helping the U.S. break its dependence on China for rare earth elements that are crucial for national defense. Ramaco Resources unexpectedly discovered in 2023 that a Wyoming coal mine it purchased for $2 million is sitting on top of a major trove of rare earth elements. The Brook Mine outside Sheridan is estimated to contain as much as 1.7 million tons of rare earth oxides, according to an analysis this month by the mining consultant Weir International. The discovery is potentially a major turn of fortunes for Ramaco, a relatively small company with a market cap of $571 million that mines coal in West Virginia and Virginia for steel production. It could also help wean the U.S. off imports from China, a key priority of the Trump administration. The U.S. was almost entirely dependent on foreign countries for the roughly 10,000 metric tons of rare earths it consumed in 2023 with China representing 70% of the country's imports, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Beijing imposed controls in April on exports of seven rare earth elements to the U.S retaliation for President Donald Trump's tariffs. Those rare earths are critical for weapons like the F-35 warplane, which contains more than 900 pounds of them, according to the Defense Department. The Brook Mine 'has the potential to help address what is an acute national strategic supply shortfall of precisely the rare earths and critical minerals which we happen to possess,' CEO Randall Atkins told analysts on the company's first-quarter earnings call Monday. 'From a national security standpoint, we will never need to ship our ores to China or any other country for processing.' Only one rare earth mining and processing facility is operational in the U.S. at Mountain Pass, California. Ramaco's Brook Mine would be the first new rare earth facility in the U.S. in more than seven decades. The facility could produce an estimated 1,400 metric tons annually, Atkins said. Ambitious timeline Ramaco aims to begin large-scale coal production at Brook Mine in June and start construction on a pilot plant for rare earths this summer, Atkins said. 'In simple terms, the coal sales will help us lower the overall cost of the rare earth mining so that we will have an extremely low mine cost basis in the critical minerals,' the CEO said. The pilot plant is expected to start operating in 2026 and run for roughly a year in order to figure out the design of the full commercial facility, Atkins said. Ramaco plans to start construction on the commercial facility as soon as late 2026 with refining and processing to start in 2028, he said. It is unclear how much the project will cost and whether Ramaco can shoulder the burden alone. Fluor , an engineering firm, is delivering an estimate in June of the capital spending needed for the project and its economics, Atkins said. Read More Microwaves advance solar-cell production and recycling Stock chart icon Ramaco stock performance Ramaco's stock has pulled back 11% this year as its metallurgical coal business is under pressure due to overproduction by China. The miner posted a loss of $9.5 million in the first quarter, compared with a profit of $2 million in the same-period in 2024. It generated revenue of around $666 million last year. 'They have solid liquidity, solid access to liquidity,' said Nick Giles, analyst at B. Riley Securities, one of three Wall Street firms that covers Ramaco. 'I don't think the weakness in the [metallurgical coal] markets is going to spoil the party here in rare earths,' he said. Federal support Ramaco is not looking for a joint venture with another company to help finance Brook Mine, Atkins said. 'We view this project as one that Ramaco is going to be able to finance on their own,' the CEO said. 'There really aren't any other third parties out there that are in the rare earth business in the United States that are really operating.' Ramaco is interested in pursuing federal support for the project, Atkins said. The company is in contact with Trump's National Energy Dominance Council about Brook Mine, the CEO said. Once the financial dimensions of the project are clear, Ramaco intends to look into potential federal financing, procurement or relationships with the Defense Department, he said. Mountain Pass owner MP Materials , for example, received $35 million from the Pentagon in 2022 to build a facility to process rare earth elements. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last month that the Trump administration is considering making an 'equity investment in each of these companies that's taking on China in critical minerals.' Burgum said China dumps minerals on the global market to depress prices and undercut U.S. companies. 'You're competing against state capital because China is picking these strategically as areas that they want to invest in,' Burgum at a conference in Oklahoma City. Ramaco plans to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Brook Mine in July. Senior officials from the federal government be attending, Atkins said.
CNBC
13-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
How this coal company could help break U.S. dependence on China for rare earths
A small coal miner headquartered in Kentucky could play an important role in helping the U.S. break its dependence on China for rare earth elements that are crucial for national defense. Ramaco Resources unexpectedly discovered in 2023 that a Wyoming coal mine it purchased for $2 million is sitting on top of a major trove of rare earth elements. The Brook Mine outside Sheridan is estimated to contain as much as 1.7 million tons of rare earth oxides, according to an analysis this month by the mining consultant Weir International. The discovery is potentially a major turn of fortunes for Ramaco, a relatively small company with a market cap of $571 million that mines coal in West Virginia and Virginia for steel production. It could also help wean the U.S. off imports from China, a key priority of the Trump administration. The U.S. was almost entirely dependent on foreign countries for the roughly 10,000 metric tons of rare earths it consumed in 2023 with China representing 70% of the country's imports, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Beijing imposed controls in April on exports of seven rare earth elements to the U.S retaliation for President Donald Trump's tariffs. Those rare earths are critical for weapons like the F-35 warplane, which contains more than 900 pounds of them, according to the Defense Department. The Brook Mine "has the potential to help address what is an acute national strategic supply shortfall of precisely the rare earths and critical minerals which we happen to possess," CEO Randall Atkins told analysts on the company's first-quarter earnings call Monday. "From a national security standpoint, we will never need to ship our ores to China or any other country for processing." Only one rare earth mining and processing facility is operational in the U.S. at Mountain Pass, California. Ramaco's Brook Mine would be the first new rare earth facility in the U.S. in more than seven decades. The facility could produce an estimated 1,400 metric tons annually, Atkins said. Ramaco aims to begin large-scale coal production at Brook Mine in June and start construction on a pilot plant for rare earths this summer, Atkins said. "In simple terms, the coal sales will help us lower the overall cost of the rare earth mining so that we will have an extremely low mine cost basis in the critical minerals," the CEO said. The pilot plant is expected to start operating in 2026 and run for roughly a year in order to figure out the design of the full commercial facility, Atkins said. Ramaco plans to start construction on the commercial facility as soon as late 2026 with refining and processing to start in 2028, he said. It is unclear how much the project will cost and whether Ramaco can shoulder the burden alone. Fluor, an engineering firm, is delivering an estimate in June of the capital spending needed for the project and its economics, Atkins said. Ramaco's stock has pulled back 11% this year as its metallurgical coal business is under pressure due to overproduction by China. The miner posted a loss of $9.5 million in the first quarter, compared with a profit of $2 million in the same-period in 2024. It generated revenue of around $666 million last year. "They have solid liquidity, solid access to liquidity," said Nick Giles, analyst at B. Riley Securities, one of three Wall Street firms that covers Ramaco. "I don't think the weakness in the [metallurgical coal] markets is going to spoil the party here in rare earths," he said. Ramaco is not looking for a joint venture with another company to help finance Brook Mine, Atkins said. "We view this project as one that Ramaco is going to be able to finance on their own," the CEO said. "There really aren't any other third parties out there that are in the rare earth business in the United States that are really operating." Ramaco is interested in pursuing federal support for the project, Atkins said. The company is in contact with Trump's National Energy Dominance Council about Brook Mine, the CEO said. Once the financial dimensions of the project are clear, Ramaco intends to look into potential federal financing, procurement or relationships with the Defense Department, he said. Mountain Pass owner MP Materials, for example, received $35 million from the Pentagon in 2022 to build a facility to process rare earth elements. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last month that the Trump administration is considering making an "equity investment in each of these companies that's taking on China in critical minerals." Burgum said China dumps minerals on the global market to depress prices and undercut U.S. companies. "You're competing against state capital because China is picking these strategically as areas that they want to invest in," Burgum at a conference in Oklahoma City. Ramaco plans to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Brook Mine in July. Senior officials from the federal government be attending, Atkins said.
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Trump Secures U.S. Critical Mineral Supply Via Coal
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on May 14, 2020 shows recent portraits of China's ... More President Xi Jinping (L) and US President Donald Trump. (Photo by Dan Kitwood and Nicholas Kamm / various sources / AFP) (Photo by DAN KITWOODNICHOLAS KAMM/POOL/AFP/AFP via Getty Images) In June, coal producer Ramaco Resources will open the mother of all mines in Wyoming. But coal isn't what the company is after. The mine has three of the country's 50 most sought-after critical minerals—gallium, germanium, and scandium—used in semiconductors, EVs, smartphones, fiber optic cables and warheads, among other things. 'We have discovered we have the world's only primary source mine embedded with gallium, germanium and scandium,' Ramaco Resources' chief executive, Randall Atkins, told Forbes. The U.S. has relied on Chinese imports for these critical minerals, but China stopped exporting them to the U.S. last year. Ramaco's new Brook Mine project is on 16,000 acres in Sheridan County, Wyoming, on the western edge of the Powder River Basin. Finding rare earths there is like 'somebody handed us the Permian Basin on a platter,' Atkins said, referring to the primary bastion of U.S. oil and gas production in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico. It will give the U.S. 'an important strategic advantage,' Atkins said. And it creates a critical minerals market in the U.S. where there hasn't been one. The U.S. consumed 8,880 tons of critical minerals last year, according to Statista. Most came from China. Global demand for critical minerals is expected to double by 2040. Atkins said he thinks he has about 1.7 million tons of minerals in the mine, which would provide the U.S. with years of supply. Using a nice round 10,000 ton/annually figure, he said 'Do the math, 10,000 into 1.7 million tons gives you a rather long period of time we could supply a lot of these rare earths,' he said. Next month, Fluor Corp. will release a detailed report on the mine's mineral concentration, grade, approximate tonnage of the minerals, how much could be recovered from processing, and 'general economics regarding cash flow and capital expenditures,' according to Ramaco's investor relations team. Though there is no processing plant for these minerals in the U.S. now, Ramaco will determine how much processing to build based on the Fluor report. The company plans to construct a pilot processing facility in August, which will be operational by early 2026, at which point the company will begin looking for third-party customers that will sell the minerals to end users. The company has already been in discussions with 'high-level groups within the defense community,' Atkins said. Construction of a commercial processing facility will begin in late 2026 or early 2027. Atkins said it would take the second coming of President Trump to resurrect U.S. coal and accelerate U.S. dominance in critical minerals. 'Trump came in at the right time,' Atkins said. 'China knows the U.S. is vulnerable. We use these critical minerals for hypersonic missiles.' The Trump administration is working to address that. In his first term, President Trump issued an Executive Order that defined critical minerals. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has deemed a collection of 50 metals and elements found in the Earth's crust as 'critical minerals,' which include four rare earth elements, all of which are essential to national security but also vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Early in this second term, President Trump issued another Executive Order emphasizing the role of these elements in American prosperity, national and energy security. He ordered the USGS to figure out where the U.S. has mineral deposits to meet the growing U.S. demand. USGS released those findings in its first World Minerals Outlook on March 11. On March 20, President Trump issued a third Executive Order on the subject. It directs his Cabinet agencies to inform his National Energy Dominance Council of 'all mineral production projects for which a plan of operations, a permit application, or other application for approval has been submitted to such agency.' How Atkins, a Kentucky-born son of an energy entrepreneur turned West Virginia coal executive, became a minerals wildcatter is practically providential. He bought an old coal mine in 2011 in Wyoming, just as President Obama was waging his war on coal in the name of climate change. Ironically U.S. coal exports to China grew during Obama's tenure. When he bought his $2 billion mine, now said to be worth $37 billion, Atkins said he had a hunch there were alternative uses for his coal. Turns out, there are. A research institute in Wyoming led him home to Ashland, Kentucky where he worked with a lab to convert his coal into carbon fiber for cars. He thought, 'the hand from above is trying to tell me something,' Atkins said. 'That kind of started us on the odyssey of reverse engineering what coal could be used for to make alternative products and materials.' DEWALAK, AFGHANISTAN — SEPTEMBER 1, 2022: Large rocks containing chromite, is crushed into smaller ... More bitesize chunks, before to goes through a process to refine and extract the ore that yields chromium, a vital component of stainless steel, at the Mughulkhil mine in Logar Province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES) The shift that set Ramaco on its bountiful path happened in 2017 during President Trump's first term when the Energy Department's National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) invited Atkins to submit coal samples for a research project. The Trump administration suspected critical minerals could be found in coal mines, he said. Atkins also developed a cooperative agreement with Oak Ridge National Lab to examine the viability of converting coal to synthetic graphite--a critical mineral essential for EV batteries--and activated carbon to absorb CO2. Then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry also asked Atkins to join the National Coal Council, an arm of the Energy Department that advised the Secretary of Energy on coal policy. He became chairman in 2020, but President Biden eliminated the Council in 2021 by allowing its charter to expire. 'Biden's Energy Department had a dictum that they would do nothing that could encourage new mining of coal,' Atkins said. Conversely, President Trump has developed an energy policy that prioritizes all types of U.S. energy production for national security, including coal production for critical minerals, Atkins said. Ramaco is now involved with another NETL research project to explore for rare earth elements using AI. 'We're going to use AI for mine planning and some process dynamics,' Atkins said. Most critical minerals are found in existing hard minerals. That makes them hard to extract and by extension, test and process. They must be dislodged from the existing hard mineral, crushed and chopped to get any kind of concentration or volume. Scandium, for example, is typically processed as a byproduct of other metals such as cobalt, nickel, titanium, and zirconium, so it's difficult to obtain. Plus, many critical minerals are found in association with radioactive minerals, which means to separate them you have to use extremely caustic acids, Atkins said. 'That is why the United States and all these other countries have been shipping rare earths to China to process. They don't care about pouring caustic acids on anything,' Atkins said. Ramaco deposits have virtually no thorium or uranium or other radioactive deposits, he said. Testing is also complicated. 'Good heavens you find coal and you can test it in an afternoon,' Atkins said. 'For rare earths, you have to go through months and months of testing the chemical composition and even more testing about how to separate rare earths, which are measured in parts per million.' Ramaco is exploring what Atkins calls 'novel techniques' like lasers or microbes, which can eat away at material surrounding the rare earths allowing them to be collected, crushed and processed for end use. The company is working with MIT on sulfidation, a process to loosen and extract rare earths from hard minerals. 'We hope we can be the first new kid on the block to be able to use a lot of these emerging technologies as well as some that have been around for a while,' Atkins said. For example, rare earths could be mined with unconventional drilling. 'If that works, that may open up a whole new horizon for the U.S. to be able to expand its rare earth and critical mineral profile,' he said. 'We have dozens of people in various labs in Canada and the U.S. working on the chemical separation and recovery techniques, and it's a mind blow,' he said. 'You have to use highly calibrated electronic instruments to determine the chemical compositions of these. Then you have to do multiple different testing of alternative amounts of agents and reagents to separate the material and refine it.' Transporting the minerals is the easiest part because the size of the processed elements is relatively small. 'You could practically use FedEx' to transport the elements to the end user, Atkins said. Atkins, who sits on the International Energy Agency's Coal and Critical Minerals Board, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill and Trump administration officials in February he recommends a critical minerals reserve, something akin to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, developed in 1975 to store U.S. crude in the wake of the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Republican Congressman Rob Wittman of Virginia, who chairs the U.S. Critical Minerals Working Group of the China Select Committee, plans to re-introduce his SECURE Minerals Act to create a Resilient Resource Reserve, or stockpile, of critical minerals but also a fund that would support U.S. companies trying to 'grow and scale critical minerals mining, processing, and production free of Chinese control.' Congressman Wittman told Forbes that ideally the new Reserve would help stabilize prices by creating an allied marketplace of minerals but also 'build up stronger friendly supply chains free from China's domination.' Daniel Pickard, the international trade and national security practice leader at the law firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, has uncovered the seldom-used Material Retardation provision embedded in the antidumping statute, as a way to counter Chinese price manipulation. 'About a year ago, it dawned on me that it's perfect for critical minerals,' he said. Private companies have abandoned mining projects after Chinese companies have flooded the market with critical minerals and tanked the price. 'They do this intentionally,' Pickard said. 'That makes the investment no longer economically feasible. Many mining operations have been abandoned, and it allows China to maintain global dominance.' 'You have this cycle,' Pickard said. Using the Material Retardation provision, Pickard in December 2024, got a big win for U.S. critical minerals. The Commerce Department ruled that 'China unfairly subsidizes its tungsten industry.' 'We have 300% tariffs that have now been placed on Chinese tungsten,' Pickard said. He filed a similar case in December relying on the same provision but for Chinese graphite for EVs. 'There is no other legal tool out there,' Pickard said. 'This little-known statute could be the savior of the U.S. critical minerals industry.'
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ramaco Rare Earth Project Awarded $6.1 Million Matching Grant From Wyoming Energy Authority
LEXINGTON, Ky., March 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ramaco Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: METC, METCB) ("Ramaco Resources" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received a $6.1 million matching grant authorized by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and issued by the Wyoming Energy Authority for Ramaco's Wyoming CORE (Carbon Ore Rare Earth) Brook Mine project. The funding will match Ramaco's significant future investment in constructing and equipping a rare earth and critical minerals pilot processing facility north of Sheridan, Wyoming. Ramaco stands at the forefront of pioneering rare earth and critical minerals processing and carbon ore-to-products research, with a state-of-the-art research park to be constructed adjacent to the 16,000-acre Brook Mine property in northern Wyoming. Ramaco's proposed new rare earth elements ("REE") and critical mineral Brook mine would be the first new rare earth mine opened in the United States since 1952. "For over 15 years, Ramaco has proudly called Sheridan home and invested in the people and economy of Wyoming. The recent discovery that our state's rich coal resources also contain the rare earth and critical minerals our country so desperately needs, now puts Wyoming at the center of delivering on our nation's energy and national security requirements. Ramaco is proud to have the support of Governor Gordon and to invest alongside the Wyoming Energy Authority's matching grant in the Wyoming CORE Brook Mine Project in Sheridan. The Wyoming legislature had the foresight to fund this program. Now Governor Gordon, and the Authority are putting it to good use by creating new jobs and economic development for the people of Wyoming. After many years of investment, we are now moving this project of national importance forward and we are committed to making our community and Wyoming proud." said Randall Atkins, Chairman and CEO, Ramaco Resources, Inc. Ramaco seeks to extract valuable REE and critical minerals from unconventional coal and carbonaceous ore deposits contained at the mine. The Brook mine has been called one of the largest unconventional deposits of these elements in the world by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory. Funding from the State of Wyoming is dedicated to design, construct, and equip a facility deploying innovative technologies to produce concentrated mixed rare earth oxides and other critical minerals from Wyoming's abundant coal resources. The planned facility will be an enclosed structure located on Ramaco owned property which is industrial zoned- I-2 with initial construction scheduled to begin in the Fall of 2025. We believe that the facility will be the first in the nation to deploy advanced, energy efficient technologies to convert carbon ores through beneficiation and hydrometallurgy to produce mixed rare earth oxides and separated oxides. About Ramaco Resources, Inc. Ramaco Resources, Inc. is an operator and developer of high-quality, low-cost metallurgical coal in southern West Virginia, and southwestern Virginia and a developing producer of coal, rare earth and critical minerals in Wyoming. Its executive offices are in Lexington, Kentucky, with operational offices in Charleston, West Virginia and Sheridan, Wyoming. The Company currently has four active metallurgical coal mining complexes in Central Appalachia and one coal mine and rare earth development near Sheridan, Wyoming in the initial stages of production. In 2023, the Company announced that a major deposit of primary magnetic rare earths and critical minerals was discovered at its mine near Sheridan, Wyoming. Contiguous to the Wyoming mine, the Company operates a carbon research and pilot facility related to the production of advanced carbon products and materials from coal. In connection with these activities, it holds a body of roughly 60 intellectual property patents, pending applications, exclusive licensing agreements and various trademarks. News and additional information about Ramaco Resources, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are available at For more information, contact investor relations at (859) 244-7455. Point of Contact: INVESTOR RELATIONS: info@ or 859-244-7455 CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent Ramaco Resources' expectations or beliefs concerning guidance, future events, anticipated revenue, future demand and production levels, macroeconomic trends, the development of ongoing projects, costs and expectations regarding operating results, and it is possible that the results described in this news release will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Ramaco Resources' control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, without limitation, unexpected delays in our current mine development activities, the ability to successfully ramp up production at our complexes in accordance with the Company's growth initiatives, failure of our sales commitment counterparties to perform, increased government regulation of coal in the United States or internationally, the further decline of demand for coal in export markets and underperformance of the railroads, the expected benefits of the Ramaco Coal and Maben acquisitions to the Company's shareholders, and the Company's ability to successfully develop the Brook Mine, including whether the increase in the Company's exploration target and estimates for such mine are realized. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, Ramaco Resources does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Ramaco Resources to predict all such factors. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements found in Ramaco Resources' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The risk factors and other factors noted in Ramaco Resources' SEC filings could cause its actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. View original content: SOURCE Ramaco Resources, Inc. Sign in to access your portfolio
