Ramaco Resources secures five year permit for Brook rare earth mine in Wyoming

[Ben Graham]

Ramaco Resources (NASDAQ: METC, METCB) announced Tuesday that the Brook mine has received a second 5-year mine permit approval from the Land Quality Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.  

The Brook mine is now fully permitted, the company said, adding that it is authorized to continue coal mining and reclamation activities across a total of 4,548.8 permitted acres north of Sheridan. 

The Brook mine holds what is believed to be the nation’s largest unconventional deposit of rare earth elements and critical minerals sourced from coal and carbonaceous ore.  

Rare earths are essential elements to realizing an electrified economy, and crucial to producing heavy magnets that power EVs. There is only one active mine for magnetic REEs in the United States, Mountain Pass in California.  

Meanwhile, China has come to control 91% of refining activity, 87% of oxide separation and 94% of magnet production. 

On July 11, coal miners, industry stakeholders, and local, state, federal officials commemorated the opening of the Brook Mine Carbon Ore Rare Earth project, the first new rare earth mine in the United States in more than 70 years and first new coal mine in Wyoming in over 50 years.  

The ability to domestically mine and refine rare earths and critical minerals contained in the carbonaceous ore of the Brook Mine represents a strategic milestone in the nation’s efforts to reduce foreign reliance on critical minerals essential to defense, technology, and clean energy, the company said.  

This month, Ramaco released a preliminary economic assessment that outlined, based upon the current mine plan of a 2 million ton per annum of coal produced that the adjusted EBITDA from the rare earth and critical mineral operation would be $134 million by 2028.   

Earlier this year, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon approved a Wyoming Energy Authority recommended $6.1 million Energy Matching Fund grant award to support the construction of a pilot-scale processing facility at the Brook mine. Construction is planned to begin later this year.