The $2 Million Coal Mine That Might Hold a $37 Billion Treasure

Wyoming discovery could be America’s first new source of rare-earth elements since 1952

The rare-earths find at a site owned by Ramaco Resources comes as the U.S. works to secure supplies of the minerals for use in electric vehicles and offshore wind turbines., among other purposes.

By Julie Steinberg | Photographs by Louise Johns for The Wall Street Journal
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julie.steinberg@wsj.com
Nov. 9, 2023 5:30 am ET

Twelve years ago, former Wall Street banker Randall Atkins bought an old coal mine outside Sheridan, Wyo., sight unseen, for about $2 million.

He thought the mine might eke out a profit. Instead, Atkins recently learned it could bring a windfall.

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Coal country to carbon innovation: Wyoming rare earths discovery could be a game changer for US

Amanda Stutt | May 18, 2023 | 11:34 am



Brook mine property in Wyoming. Image from Ramaco Resources.

While many majors are walking away from the coal business to improve ESG metrics and appease investors, some savvy miners are looking at ways to advance clean energy projects on current and former coal mine sites. ... Rare earths, essential elements to realizing an electrified economy, are being discovered latent in some old coal mines – which are seen as environmental legacy liabilities all over North America.

Ramaco Resources, (NASDAQ: METC) a Kentucky-headquartered pure play metallurgic coal miner with operations in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, has this month discovered new potential magnetic rare earth elements (REEs) at its Brook mine in Wyoming, the state which produces about 47% of the country’s coal and where virtually all coal is thermal.

Ramaco’s subsidiary, Ramaco Carbon, is partnering with laboratories, researchers, and manufacturers and is privately investing to create an ecosystem of carbon tech innovation — building what it calls Carbon Valley in Wyoming.

The discovery was made in a partnership with a federal research team from the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), with validation from independent analysts at mining consultancy Weir International — and could pose a potential solution to growing demand that has eluded the US.

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