Wyoming Opens Dual Mine: Coal for Power, Rare Earths for Everything Else

The Ramaco Resources Brook Mine will extract a relatively small amount of coal, but it is loaded with minerals that domestic industries now import.
Wyoming Opens Dual Mine: Coal for Power, Rare Earths for Everything Else
Graders, conveyors, and sifters at Brook Mine, near Ranchester, Wyo., on July 11, 2025. John Haughey/The Epoch Times
John Haughey
John Haughey
Reporter
|Updated:
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RANCHESTER, Wyo.—A mine in Wyoming is drawing national attention to what is otherwise a high plains flyspeck with a single gas station, dollar store, and four bars along the Tongue River.

Tumbling out of the Bighorn Mountains, Brook Mine will be the first new coal mine to open in Wyoming in 50 years, as well as the first critical mineral and rare earth mine to open in the United States in more than 70 years. Miner Ramaco Resources is to produce at least 2 million tons of coal per year for electricity and extract more than 450 tons of elements annually.

John Haughey
John Haughey
Reporter
John Haughey is an award-winning Epoch Times reporter who covers U.S. elections, U.S. Congress, energy, defense, and infrastructure. Mr. Haughey has more than 45 years of media experience. You can reach John via email at [email protected]
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