Posted on 03/28/2024 7:39:56 AM PDT by Red Badger
Ramaco Resources in northeast Wyoming plans to update its rare earths deposit find Wednesday, pushing the estimate on tonnage underground to over 1.5 million tons, and the value to more than $37 billion.
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Ramaco's coal mine in northern Wyoming is revealing potential to be a huge rare earths deposit. The company has assets all over the country, like this mine in the Eastern U.S. (Courtesy Ramaco)
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Ramaco Resources Inc. in northeast Wyoming plans to update its rare earths deposit find in the Cowboy State on Wednesday, pushing the estimate on tonnage underground to more than 1.5 million tons, and the value to more than $37 billion because of the inclusion of Chinese minerals banned for shipment to America.
The deposit in the coal-rich Powder River Basin is already considered to be one of the world’s largest deposits of rare earth minerals.
Ramaco estimated in May 2023 that it had 800,000 tons of rare earths. Since then as testing has continued, that figure has been revised upward to 1.2 million tons.
But a new technical report prepared by a consultant for Lexington, Kentucky-based Ramaco reveals 1.5 million tons with more than 10% of the Brook Mine deposit estimated to contain strategic gallium and germanium critical minerals.
In terms of the report’s key findings — to be released Wednesday — both the reported Brook Mine’s rare earth tonnage volume and concentrations estimates have almost doubled since the original May 2023 report.
A key aspect contained in the updated report is the notation that China has banned for export those two high-value critical minerals to the United States, which were not included in the earlier analysis in 2023.
The increased prices in the two critical minerals prompted Ramaco to include them in the new analysis — which is likely to bring the value of the rare earths deposit to well over $37 billion.
Bought Mine For $2
Ramaco Chairman and CEO Randal Atkins declined to discuss the findings of the report in advance of a Wednesday conference call with investors.
“We don’t want to front-run the report,” Atkins told Cowboy State Daily.
Ramaco had previously tested a third of its long-dormant 15,800-acre coal mine located 7 miles north of Sheridan, which it bought sight unseen for $2 million in 2011.
The technical report, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Regulatory Commission on March 21, notes that an additional 59 holes were drilled since the last report on the rare earth minerals find in May — boosting the total holes to 123.
Rare earth minerals are used in magnet materials required for everything from powering electric vehicles and wind turbines to military applications to ensure short takeoffs and landings of jets from an aircraft carrier’s deck, and aircraft powered by magnet motors.
Ramaco, which is pursuing potential pilot production and commercialization at its Brook Mine deposit, is considering collaboration with a university, and governmental and other research institutions to explore “unconventional processing techniques,” according to a copy of the Weir report.
The Brook Mine is not the only game in the rare earth minerals world in Wyoming.
There’s also Rare Element Resources Ltd. looking to complete a rare earth minerals demonstration factory in Upton, and American Rare Earths Inc. that aims to raise $456 million to begin mine development and production in Wheatland.
“There are still many issues to be addressed for one to conclude that prospects are reasonable for economically feasible extraction of the minerals at this time,” according to the Weir report. “Work is currently ongoing to address these issues.”
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
37 billion? Brandon can print that before breakfast
We could borrow it from the Biden Bank of Zelenskyy.................
Biden Administration moving quickly to sell to Communist China.
Lanthanides are the rare earth elements of the modern periodic table, with atomic numbers from 58. They are also called rare earth metals since their occurrence is very small (3×10 -4 % of the Earth’s crust). Lanthanides are available in ‘monazite’ sand’ as lanthanide orthophosphates. With scandium and yttrium, they make up the rare-earth metals.
We purchased stock in this company several months ago. So far, it has been a good investment.
zaklee
I didn't think that looked very much like Wyoming...
Cowboy Poetry by Bill Jones Jake, the rancher, went one day to fix a distant fence. The wind was cold and gusty and the clouds rolled gray and dense. As he pounded the last staples in and gathered tools to go, The temperature had fallen, the wind and snow began to blow. When he finally reached his pickup, he felt a heavy heart. From the sound of that ignition, he knew it wouldn't start. So Jake did what most of us would do if we had been there. He humbly bowed his balding head and sent aloft a prayer. As he turned the key for the last time, he softly cursed his luck. They found him three days later, frozen stiff in that old truck. Now Jake had been around in life and done his share of roaming. But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked -- it looked just like Wyoming! Of all the saints in Heaven, his favorite was St. Peter. (Now, this line ain't needed but it helps with rhyme and meter) So they set and talked a minute or two, or maybe it was three. Nobody was keeping' score -- in Heaven time is free. "I've always heard," Jake said to Pete, "that God will answer prayer, But one time I asked for help, well, he just plain wasn't there." "Does God answer prayers of some, and ignore the prayers of others? That don't seem exactly square -- I know all men are brothers." "Or does he randomly reply, without good rhyme or reason? Maybe, it's the time of day, the weather or the season." "Now I ain't trying to act smart, it's just the way I feel. And I was wondering', could you tell me -- what the heck's the deal?!" Peter listened very patiently and when Jake was done, There were smiles of recognition, and he said, "So, you're the one!!" "That day your truck, it wouldn't start, and you sent your prayer a flying, You gave us all a real bad time, with hundreds of us trying." "A thousand angels rushed, to check the status of your file, But you know, Jake, we hadn't heard from you in quite a long while." "And though all prayers are answered, and God ain't got no quota, He didn't recognize your voice, and started a truck in Minnesota." |
And the infrastructure stiffened by unobtainium.
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