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United States
Ramaco Resources: Brook Mine critical minerals
A metallurgical coal producer developing the Brook Mine near Sheridan, Wyoming, to recover critical minerals from coal and the clays and shales around it. Rare earths are a by-product there: Ramaco plans to mine and make a mixed rare earth carbonate on site for other companies to refine, and does not plan to separate rare earths itself.
Points to check
Facts from the sources on this page that a reader should weigh before relying on the company's own figures.
- The latest study is a scoping-level Initial Assessment (July 2026); a pre-feasibility study is expected in 2027, and the resource is classed as Inferred with no reserve yet.
- The pilot plant is still being built; full pilot operation is expected later in 2027, after an earlier mid-2026 target.
- Rare earths are a small part of the plan: the July 2026 letter puts about 75% of anticipated Brook Mine revenue on gallium, germanium, alumina and silica and 18% on scandium, and no annual carbonate tonnage has been published.
- Announced offtakes (Mulberry, REalloys, Indium) are non-binding memoranda, and government financing is still under discussion.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2016 — Ramaco Resources, Inc. was formed in October 2016 as a Delaware corporation and listed on Nasdaq on 3 Feb 2017; its founder, Randall W. Atkins, is Chairman and CEO. It mines metallurgical coal in Appalachia. The Brook Mine property near Sheridan, Wyoming came into Ramaco Resources with its 2022 purchase of Ramaco Coal. Rare earths there were identified in work with DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), announced in May 2023.
- Headquarters
- Lexington, Kentucky, United States
- Ownership
- Listed on Nasdaq Global Select Market: Class A common stock (METC) and Class B common stock (METCB). Senior notes also trade on Nasdaq: METCZ (8.375% due 2029) and METCI (8.250% due 2030). All four are registered on the FY2025 10-K cover. Class B began trading 22 Jun 2023. The company created it to separate the financial performance of its 'CORE' assets, and it still pays quarterly Class B stock dividends (release of 14 Sep 2026). Founder Randall W. Atkins is Chairman and CEO. Entities of Yorktown Energy Partners sold shares as selling stockholders in the Aug 2025 offering.
- Stage
- Early stage. A pilot plant is being built and should be fully running later in 2027; the commercial plan has a scoping study, a pre-feasibility study due in 2027, and no investment decision yet.
- Listing
- Nasdaq: METC · Nasdaq: METCB
- Revenue
- US$536.6M
Reported, FY2025 (year ended 31 Dec 2025).
Source
Capacity
Each date below links to the document the figure came from. A capacity figure with no source is not on this page.
| What | Figure | Status | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatch Initial Assessment base case (July 2026): Critical Mineral Refinery | In: 1.3 million dry metric tons/yr of ROM feed, with coal throughput for carbochlorination in addition. Out: 574 dry metric t/yr of critical mineral oxide equivalent, which Hatch bases on 'the equivalent oxide production of Ga metal, GeO2, Sc2O3, and mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC)'. No separate MREC tonnage is given. Also out: HPA 11,848 metric t/yr (updated July 2026; originally 1,800) and HPS 18,617 metric t/yr. Stated recovery of rare earths to MREC is 80%. | Announced | Jul 2026 |
| Upsized case used for the July 2026 shareholder-letter economics | In, averaged over the 40-year life: about 3.5 million metric tons/yr of feed to carbochlorination (about 2.6 million metric tons of clays and shales plus about 0.9 million metric tons of mineralized coal). The letter also cites about 1.5 million metric tons/yr of thermal coal sales. Hatch calls this 2.6 Mtpa ROM case order-of-magnitude only. No product tonnages are given in the letter text; its summary table is an image. | Announced | Jul 2026 |
| Upsized oxide target (Sep 2025, under the earlier solvent-extraction flowsheet) | Out: about 3,400 short tons/yr of 'commercial rare earth and critical mineral oxide' (all critical minerals, not rare earths alone), up from 1,240. Coal feed would rise from 2 million to 5 million tons/yr. Superseded by the Feb 2026 flowsheet change. | Historical | Sep 2025 |
| Fluor PEA steady-state output (July 2025, earlier flowsheet) | In: 2 million tons/yr of coal. Out: 1,242 short tons/yr of oxide: NdPr 254, Dy 25, Tb 5, Ga 98, Sc 65, Ge 9, other 786. Superseded. | Historical | Jul 2025 |
| Brook Mine pilot processing plant | No capacity published | Pilot scale | Jul 2026 |
Narrative
Ramaco mines metallurgical coal in Appalachia, and its Brook Mine in Wyoming holds a coal mining permit. Work with the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, announced in 2023, found rare earths and other critical minerals in the coal and the clays and shales between the seams, and it has since become an exploration-stage critical minerals project in which coal would also serve as a reagent. Its first plan, in a July 2025 study by Fluor, separated individual oxides by solvent extraction. In February 2026 Ramaco changed the flowsheet to carbochlorination, which recovers gallium, germanium, scandium, high-purity alumina and high-purity silica and leaves the rare earths as a mixed carbonate to be sold to third-party refiners; Ramaco no longer plans to separate the rare earths itself. On the July 2026 figures, gallium, germanium, alumina and silica make up about three quarters of anticipated Brook Mine revenue and scandium about 18%, and Ramaco said in February 2026 that the carbonate would be a minority of total revenue. The resource includes the magnet elements neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium and samarium. A pilot processing plant and laboratory near the mine broke ground in October 2025; the building is due to be finished in October 2026, with equipment installed in the first half of 2027 and full pilot operation later that year. A scoping-level study by Hatch was published in July 2026, a pre-feasibility study is expected in 2027, and Ramaco says the Hatch report estimates initial production in 2031. Ramaco raised $200 million of equity in August 2025, has a $6.1 million Wyoming Energy Authority matching grant, and has signed non-binding memoranda for its products, including one with REalloys for the rare earth carbonate.
Where public sources disagree
- Published grade figures for the deposit use different bases. The Weir S-K 1300 resource (effective 30 Jun 2025) reports an average 498 ppm critical mineral oxides on an ash basis, meaning the concentration in the residue left after the coal's organic matter is burned off; it gives no whole-coal grade. The Hatch Initial Assessment (28 Jul 2026) uses a run-of-mine feed head grade of 404.46 ppm critical minerals, including 344 ppm TREE, and 307.01 ppm TREE for coal feed, and does not state the basis of those figures. 404.46 is about 19% below 498, but with the bases differing the two cannot be compared directly.
Latest reports
| Period | Published | Report |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 (quarter to 30 Jun 2026) | 2026-08-04 | Ramaco Resources Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results |
| Q1 2026 (quarter to 31 Mar 2026) | 2026-05-11 | Ramaco Resources Reports First Quarter 2026 Results |
| Q4 and FY 2025 (calendar year to 31 Dec 2025) | 2026-02-25 | Ramaco Resources Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Results |
| Q3 2025 (quarter to 30 Sep 2025) | 2025-10-27 | Ramaco Resources Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results (republished copy) |
Across these reports
Across these four releases the Brook program moved from an SX-based plan with a ~3,400 tons/yr oxide target to a carbochlorination flowsheet weighted to gallium, alumina and quartz, with a Hatch estimate of US$3.2 billion plus contingency and first production in 2031. The pilot plant slipped from mid-2026 completion to 2027 operation and the PFS from early 2026 to late 2026, while company liquidity rose to US$521.0 million at end-2025 and fell to US$400.1 million by June 2026.
| Measure | What the reports show |
|---|---|
| Brook Mine rare earth feedstock mined | Roughly 125,000 tons of material excavated at Brook Mine since the July 2025 groundbreaking (Q3 25); none of the three later releases gives an updated tonnage. |
| Planned oxide output (capacity, not production) | Base case of roughly 5 million tons/yr of coal ore yielding approximately 3,400 tons/yr of oxides, up from a prior 1,240 tons/yr (Q3 25); later releases do not restate an oxide tonnage. |
| Process route and product mix | Internally developed, patent-pending carbochlorination flowsheet replaces the solvent-extraction route modeled in Fluor's mid-2025 PEA; high-purity gallium, high-purity alumina and high-purity quartz are projected as the largest revenue sources and mixed rare earth carbonate as a minority contributor (Q4 25); about three quarters of anticipated Brook revenue tied to critical minerals (Q2 26). |
| Brook project cost and schedule (Hatch study) | Hatch preliminary estimate of US$3.2 billion construction capital plus ~US$0.8 billion contingency, initial production in 2031, company-modeled NPV of US$8 billion and average annual adjusted EBITDA of US$1.3 billion (Q2 26); no capital cost or production date was stated in the three earlier releases. |
| Liquidity and capital expenditure (company-wide) | Liquidity US$272.4 million (Q3 25) → US$521.0 million (end 2025) → US$488.8 million (Q1 26) → US$400.1 million (Q2 26); quarterly capex US$16.6 million (Q3 25) → US$17.1 million (Q1 26) → US$27.4 million (Q2 26), FY2025 capex US$64.3 million. |
| Coal context: revenue and tons sold | Revenue US$121.0 million (Q3 25) → US$128.0 million (Q4 25) → US$121.6 million (Q1 26) → US$144.8 million (Q2 26); coal sales 873 → 938 → 892 → 1,056 thousand tons; net loss US$(13.3) million → US$(14.7) million → US$(18.3) million → US$(15.4) million. |
Stated dates
| Target | First stated | Now | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brook pilot plant (Pilot Plant Oxide facility) complete and operating | Completion mid-2026, then ~6 months of optimization (Q3 2025 release, 2025-10-27) | Building structure completion fall 2026; full-scale pilot operations 2027 (Q2 2026 release, 2026-08-04) | moved later |
| Hatch prefeasibility study | Early 2026 (Q3 2025 release, 2025-10-27) | Late 2026; a revised PEA was set for mid-2026 instead (Q4 2025 release, 2026-02-25) | moved later |
| Revised Hatch PEA / conceptual study | By mid-2026 (Q4 2025 release, 2026-02-25); 'late June' (Q1 2026 release) | Hatch capital and timing estimates reported in the Q2 2026 release (2026-08-04) | met |
| Pilot plant redesign | By Q3 2026 (Q4 2025 release, 2026-02-25) | Not reported complete as of the Q2 2026 release | not yet due |
| Initial commercial production at Brook | 2031 (Q2 2026 release, 2026-08-04; first date stated in these four reports) | 2031 | not yet due |
Figures are as the company reported them, linked to each report. This summarizes what changed between reports; it is not a view on the company or its shares.
Sources
- Shareholder letter, Brook Mine (8-K Ex. 99.2) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2026-07-29)
- Brook Mine Critical Minerals Project Initial Assessment Report (Hatch) (8-K Ex. 99.1) — Hatch Associates Consultants / Ramaco Resources / SEC (2026-07-28)
- Ramaco Resources Releases Hatch Report and Shareholder Letter on Exploratory Brook Mine Critical Minerals Project — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2026-07-29)
- Brook Mine FAQs (last modified Apr 30, 2026) — Ramaco Resources (2026-04-30)
- Ramaco Resources Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results (copy of company release) — Ramaco Resources (via Seeking Alpha PR) (2026-02-25)
- Form 10-K, fiscal year 2025 — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2026-02)
- Ramaco Resources Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2026-08-04)
- Form 10-Q, quarter ended June 30, 2026 (link from TradingView summary; not opened) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2026-08-05)
- Technical Report Summary Brook Mine - Initial Assessment (Weir International) (8-K Ex. 96.1) — Weir International / Ramaco Resources / SEC (2025-09-17)
- Shareholder letter (8-K Ex. 99.1) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2025-09-18)
- Rare Earths and Critical Minerals FAQ (8-K Ex. 99.1) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2025-11-13)
- Ramaco Posts FAQ Section on Website for Brook Mine Project — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2025-11-13)
- Q3 2025 press release (SCMT announcement) (8-K Ex. 99.1) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2025-10-27)
- Ramaco Breaks Ground on Pilot Processing Plant and Lab to Advance Rare Earth and Critical Mineral Development — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2025-10-23)
- Independent Preliminary Economic Assessment Report from Fluor Corporation (8-K Ex. 99.1) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2025-07-01)
- Ramaco Resources previews positive PEA for Brook rare earth mine in Wyoming — MINING.COM (2025-07-01)
- Technical Report Summary: Brook Mine Property - Rare Earth Element Exploration Target (Q1 2025 update) — Weir International / Ramaco Resources (2025-03-31)
- Ramaco Resources Announces Major Independent Rare Earth Elements Update From Weir International — Ramaco Resources (Nasdaq) (2024-03-21)
- Major Deposits of Magnetic Rare Earth Elements Discovered at Ramaco Resources Mine in Wyoming — Ramaco Resources (Business Wire) (2023-05-03)
- Ramaco Rare Earth Project Awarded $6.1 Million Matching Grant From Wyoming Energy Authority — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2025-03-17)
- Ramaco Resources, Inc. Announces Closing of Upsized $200 Million Public Offering — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2025-08-07)
- Mulberry Industries, Ramaco Resources Announce Non-Binding MOU (8-K Ex. 99.1) — Ramaco Resources / SEC (2025-12-23)
- Ramaco Resources, Inc. Announces the Entry into a Non-Binding Memorandum of Understanding with REalloys, Inc. — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2026-05-28)
- Ramaco Resources, Indium Corp ink gallium and germanium supply deal for Brook mine — MINING.COM (2026-08-19)
- Ramaco Resources, Inc. Dual-Class Structure Update — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2023-06)
- Ramaco Resources Announces Third Quarter Class B Stock Dividend Details — Ramaco Resources (PR Newswire) (2026-09-14)
How this page is sourced
Everything here comes from public sources — company filings, annual reports, exchange announcements, government releases and trade press. Every figure is linked to the document it came from and carries the date that document was published, because a capacity number without a date is not a fact, it is a rumor with a decimal point.
What is deliberately absent: material nonpublic information. I have spent more than two decades in this industry and a good deal of what I know about these companies I learned under NDA. Those obligations do not expire and they do not bend for a website. Nothing I have been told in confidence appears here in any form, and nothing on this page — or missing from it — should be read as a signal about what I know privately. I hold NDAs absolutely. It is the reason clients tell me things.
Judgment is the other thing left out on purpose. This page reports what has been published and who published it. Whether a target is credible, whether a ramp will hold, whether a capacity figure survives contact with the plant behind it — that is the work I do for clients, and it does not belong in a free reference page.
Where public sources disagree, I say so rather than picking a winner. Where a figure has not been published, the field says so rather than carrying an estimate. An empty field is information too.
Public filings tell you what a company has said. Whether it holds up is a different question, and the one I get hired to answer.
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