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The United States will open its first rare earth mining facility in over 70 years.
“The U.S. is opening its first Rare Earth mine in more than 70 years— providing a critical supply of six of the seventeen Rare Earth elements that are used in everything from war planes to semiconductors to our smartphones,” the Rapid Response 47 account wrote on X.
The facility will open in Ranchester, Wyoming, with a ribbon cutting for the Brook Mine Carbon Ore Rare Earth project on Friday.
“I’m looking forward to attending Ramaco’s opening of the nation’s first rare earth mine in more than 70 years and the first new coal mine in Wyoming in over 50 years,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox Business.
“This is just the beginning of an administration-wide effort to unleash the American mineral development needed to secure U.S. energy dominance, fuel economic growth, and safeguard our national security,” he added.
Fox Business provided coverage:
🚨 The U.S. is opening its first Rare Earth mine in more than 70 years— providing a critical supply of six of the seventeen Rare Earth elements that are used in everything from war planes to semiconductors to our smartphones. pic.twitter.com/36LnJsDIWq
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 11, 2025
More info from Fox Business:
Ramaco Resources says the mine project will help the U.S. reduce its “foreign reliance on critical minerals essential to defense, technology, and clean energy.”
“This is more than a ribbon cutting — it’s a declaration of America’s resolve to reclaim its leadership in critical minerals and energy independence,” Randall W. Atkins, chairman and chief executive of Ramaco Resources, said in a statement.
“We are proud that Ramaco will be developing the first new mine to lead the U.S. in creating a viable domestic supply line of strategic rare earths and critical minerals,” he continued.
The company has operations in West Virginia, Virginia and Wyoming. Its executive offices are located in Lexington, Kentucky.
“Today, I am in Wyoming for the grand opening of the Ramaco Brook Mine Carbon Ore Rare Earth project! This is a monumental step towards unleashing the full potential of American energy by utilizing the abundant resources we have right here at home,” Wright wrote on X.
“A great day for American jobs and American energy!” he added.
Today, I am in Wyoming for the grand opening of the Ramaco Brook Mine Carbon Ore Rare Earth project! This is a monumental step towards unleashing the full potential of American energy by utilizing the abundant resources we have right here at home.
A great day for American jobs… pic.twitter.com/1WOxvQUB4g
— Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) July 11, 2025
“Wyoming continues to be a leader in energy innovation, including the expansion of our critical mineral industries,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement, according to Fox Business.
“With support from the Energy Matching Funds Program, we are celebrating the exciting potential for Wyoming coal and rare earth minerals, along with their role in the expansion of our state’s energy economy,” he added.
“I was proud to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Brook Mine Rare Earth Project with Ramaco,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) commented.
“This historic milestone marks a major step in securing American energy independence and unlocking Wyoming’s vast mineral potential. Let’s keep powering the future right here at home,” she continued.
I was proud to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Brook Mine Rare Earth Project with Ramaco.
This historic milestone marks a major step in securing American energy independence and unlocking Wyoming’s vast mineral potential. Let’s keep powering the future right here at… pic.twitter.com/Yas11aFzR5
— Rep. Harriet Hageman (@RepHageman) July 11, 2025
The Associated Press provided further details:
The new Brook Mine, though relatively small, offers a glimmer of optimism for Wyoming’s coal industry as potentially the state’s first new coal mine in 50 years. Massive, open-pit mines east of the Brook Mine supply around 40% of the nation’s coal but Wyoming coal mining has shrunk substantially since its peak over a decade ago, as utilities switch to renewable energy and power plants fueled by cheaper natural gas.
“Wyoming is moving to meet growing energy demands here at home and internationally — with the recognition that coal — Wyoming coal — is essential to healthy energy portfolios,” Gordon, a Republican, said in a statement after the Brook Mine event.
The Brook Mine has been in the works for over a decade, stalled in part by landowners worried about groundwater depletion. Atkins originally envisioned it as a source of subbituminous power plant fuel like the state’s other coal mines.
A public company with metallurgical coal mines in Appalachia, Ramaco in recent years received Department of Energy grants to develop coal into carbon-based products such as carbon fiber. This year, it got a $6.1 million grant from Wyoming to build a rare earth and critical minerals processing plant.
A consultant report released this week found that fully developing the mine and processing plant to extract rare earths would cost $533 million, a sum that could be recovered in five years if the elements in the coal prove profitable. Ramaco also would sell the processed coal as fuel, Atkins said.
Analysis by U.S. national laboratories show the Brook Mine coal contains valuable quantities of the rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, as well as the critical minerals gallium, scandium and germanium, according to a Ramaco letter to shareholders on July 1.
Neodymium and dysprosium are used in the permanent magnets of wind turbines, lanthanum in electric and hybrid car batteries. Yttrium and terbium have critical military uses, including in targeting devices.