Old Coal Mine in Wyoming Could Be Worth $37B

Randall Atkins says he "didn't know the difference between rare earths and rare coins" when he paid $2 million for an old coal mine in northern Wyoming. But the Ramaco Resources founder and CEO has learned a lot since then: The Wall Street Journal reports that he was "surprised and humbled" when tests revealed the mine, which he bought sight unseen, could hold deposits of rare-earth minerals worth around $37 billion. The find was made with the help of researchers from the Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory, who predicted that the area could hold rare-earth deposits and asked Atkins if they could run tests a few years after he bought the mine in 2011.

Researchers believe the Ramaco site could hold the largest "unconventional"—with deposits in coal beds instead of hard rock—source of rare earths and critical minerals in the country. If things go to plan, this will be the first new rare-earth mine in the US since 1952, though Atkins tells the New York Post there needs to be "careful analysis of the right extraction, separating, and processing techniques" before the project can proceed. But with one of the rare earths selling for more than $1 million per metric ton, compared to the $184 per ton the company gets for the metallurgical coal it specializes in, "we prefer going in that direction," the former Wall Street banker says.

Atkins says the company aims to process the elements at the site instead of sending them to China, which controls most of the world's rare-earth supply and refining. Rare-earth elements are used in many devices, including clean energy and defense technologies. The US and other countries stepped up efforts to find new sources after China threatened to cut off the supply in 2019. The Journal says the Wyoming project could be "personally fulfilling" for the 71-year-old Atkins, whose father, Orin Atkins, turned Ashland Oil into an energy conglomerate but was caught up in the Watergate scandal and pleaded guilty in 1989 to selling stolen documents to Iran.

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"I look back at him with love and admiration," Atkins says. "If I could build something even remotely as successful as he had over his tenure, I would be very happy." He says he has learned from his father's mistakes and has kept Ramaco out of politics. (More rare earth minerals stories.)