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Chairman and CEO Randall Atkins sits down with International Finance to debate the corporate’s entry into the sector.
When Nasdaq-listed, Kentucky-headquartered metallurgical coal developer Ramaco Sources introduced in 2023 that it found uncommon earth parts in its Wyoming coal mine—the place they weren’t anticipated—the developer grew to become the most recent participant within the estimated $7.2 billion uncommon earths market. The corporate, which posted $11.2 million in web revenue on $666.3 million in income in 2024, plans to start pilot manufacturing and processing of uncommon earth metals later this yr.
International Finance: It feels like Ramaco Sources had a contented accident discovering uncommon earth parts in its Brook Mine mission in Wyoming.
Randall Atkins: It was definitely a shock. The way in which that the invention advanced is that we had been doing varied analysis with the Division of Power’s Nationwide Power Know-how Laboratory (NETL) on carbon merchandise that may very well be comprised of the carbon inside coal.
And a part of NETL’s directive, I assume it goes again to about 2017 or 2018, was that the [US] Division of Protection had tasked them to find the place uncommon earth and significant minerals may be capable to be discovered within the continental US as a result of the Protection Division is anxious about provide traces of uncommon earths based mostly on China’s dominance within the area.
They’d requested us for coal core samples from our mine in Wyoming and, after all, from mines in West Virginia and Virginia. They did the identical for a number of different mining teams, definitely not us particularly.
A few yr later, they got here again saying, “We’ve analyzed these [samples] fairly totally, and we predict now we have found that you simply, in your deposit in Wyoming, might have among the highest concentrations of medium and heavy uncommon earths that we’ve seen wherever exterior of Western China.”
GF: Has the most recent spherical of tariffs modified the economics of creating this web site?
Atkins: Nicely, it definitely has within the brief time period and sure will in the long run. So, for the reason that tariffs had been introduced, China has imposed an embargo on promoting all uncommon earth parts that may have potential twin civilian and navy use to the US.
We have now about seven uncommon earth parts and significant minerals on the prime of our listing, and 5 of these seven have now been banned from export by China. As a part of that ban, their costs have elevated as a result of individuals can’t get their fingers on them.
GF: Ramaco is specializing in the heavier metals that China now not exports to the US?
Atkins: We’re specializing in the medium and heavy uncommon earths. I imply, I’ll provide you with some names: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. These are the 4 main uncommon earths; the first essential minerals are gallium, germanium and scandium. These are the seven that now we have and that we’re centered on. Nevertheless, now we have about 11 extra uncommon earths. Issues like cerium, gadolinium, yttrium, et cetera, that aren’t as helpful because the seven that I first named.
GF: Can personal business develop the required infrastructure to course of these ores independently, or is a public-private partnership wanted?
Atkins: We had been concerned with NETL in discovering this. We have now had conversations with the [US] authorities about different ways in which they may get entangled as we go additional up the event chain, both from partnering with us in some vogue financially as we develop the processing or getting concerned in some way within the procurement by means of the Protection Division, which is attempting to ascertain new provide traces.
GF: Does this provide you with pause to see you probably have thrown away uncommon earths from different mines?
Atkins: Yeah, nice level. And certainly, NETL and others have checked out varied coal seams throughout the nation, and there was dialogue about discovering uncommon earths in coal ash from energy vegetation or acid mine drainage, with out the necessity to extract new coal. After all, the brief reply to your query isn’t any, we didn’t discover uncommon earth in our different deposits again within the East … nor has anyone else, in enough focus in these coal seams to make it financial.
GF: The place does Ramaco match within the mine-to-magnet provide chain?
Atkins: Consider the provision chain as a meals chain: as soon as the ore is extracted from the bottom in its uncooked kind, it’s then beneficiated and processed right into a focus. The focus then has all the weather combined collectively. The following step is to separate the uncommon earth from the focus to make oxides, that are used to make metals.
The lengthy reply is “Sure.” We’ll take a look at the potential for taking this from mine to magnets due to the dimensions of the general deposit. We may additionally probably go from mine to semiconductors as a result of we may make semiconductor wafers. Along with the uncommon earths, now we have three essential minerals, which are actually banned from exporting by China, gallium, germanium, and scandium, that can be utilized within the semiconductor course of. So, given the dimensions of what we’ve obtained over a while, definitely not on day one, we’ll attempt to take it as far up the worth chain as we are able to.
GF: How lengthy will it take to develop the required processing capabilities?
Atkins: We have now been engaged on this with the Fluor Company for a couple of yr and a half to determine the suitable circulate sheet and the refining fashions that will be used. And certainly, they’re within the strategy of designing the pilot plant.
So, what we’ll do from a improvement standpoint is we’ll begin large-scale mining in June, and the bigger materials will then be utilized in a pilot plant, which we’ll begin in August or September. Hopefully, we’ll have the pilot facility begin the preliminary processing by the top of the yr. That can run for a greater a part of a yr. We plan to transition from the pilot to a full-scale business facility by the top of 2026. That may most likely take a couple of yr and a half to assemble. So, we’re taking a look at most likely the second half of 2028 earlier than we’d be in business manufacturing. Nonetheless, given the magnitude of what we’d be constructing, that’s a fairly fast timeframe.