Ramaco Resources announces strategic initiative to establish first national critical minerals stockpile at Brook Mine

Ramaco Resources announces that its Board has approved the pursuit of a groundbreaking initiative to establish a national strategic stockpile of rare earth elements and critical minerals at its Brook Mine facility in Wyoming.

The Strategic Critical Minerals Terminal (“SCMT”), will be developed in collaboration with one of Ramaco’s nationally recognized commodity structuring and financial advisors.

The SCMT is designed to position Ramaco to become the most comprehensive, vertically integrated upstream, midstream and downstream producer of critical minerals and rare earth elements (“REEs”) in the United States.

The SMCT stockpile is intended to address both private and public needs for secure, reliable access to rare earth elements and critical minerals vital for the nation’s critical rare earth applications. By leveraging Ramaco’s mineral resources and experienced third party commodity structured finance expertise, the initiative aims to deliver long-term solutions for extraction, processing, and inventory management. The collaboration seeks to mitigate supply chain risks and provide uninterrupted access to strategic materials.

The SCMT stockpile will provide long-term strategic stockpiling, storage, and inventory management solutions for Ramaco’s broad basket of critical minerals and rare earths. Ramaco expects to not only process its own rare earths and minerals but will also offer tolling services for third-party producers, further strengthening the domestic supply chain. The stockpile will be managed as a state-of-the-art terminal to ensure the inventory is safe, secure and available for consumers at market prices.

Ramaco believes that its Brook Mine site offers significant advantages for the SCMT stockpile placement due to its strategic location and infrastructure access. The site benefits from direct connectivity to the BNSF railroad and is adjacent to a major interstate highway, both of which are expected to facilitate efficient transportation and distribution of materials to a broad range of customers including defense contractors and industrial consumers nationwide.

Ramaco is working on this project with a nationally recognized commodity advisor with decades of expertise in physical commodity structured finance. This initiative will anchor Ramaco’s downstream capital expenditures and financing on off-take contracts, and has the potential to generate stable, annuity-like cash flows and serve as a strategic national infrastructure asset.

Ramaco’s first-mover advantage, and significant rare earth and critical mineral resources position the Company to become an important strategic oxide provider that can address U.S. demand, supply chain vulnerabilities and national security needs.

The Brook Mine spans over 15,800 acres, with 4,500 acres currently permitted. The Company intends to apply for the required permits to allow it to expand mining of the remaining acreage. Recent land acquisitions near its property have further expanded the Company’s fee land holdings in Wyoming for future development and mineral storage potential.

The Brook Mine is believed to be one of the world’s only primary source mines for scandium, gallium, and germanium. It is also believed to contain significant quantities of heavy REEs, including dysprosium and terbium, which are essential for permanent magnets and advanced defense systems, as well as light REEs such as neodymium and praseodymium.

Ramaco’s Board recently authorized a plan to increase the annual commercial rare earth and critical mineral oxide production projection to approximately 3,400 tons from the 1,240 tons contemplated by the Preliminary Economic Analysis by the Fluor Corp. This represents a 174% increase in oxide production and is based on Ramaco’s announced goal of increasing coal production from 2 million to 5 million tons per year.

The latest Technical Report Summary (TRS) from Weir on the permitted acreage confirmed an estimated 1.4 million tons of Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO), including gallium, scandium and germanium. The Company expects that this figure may expand as the balance of the property is further tested and explored.

The Company is committed to strengthening America’s critical minerals supply chain, supporting national security, and driving innovation in the rare earths industry. The Brook Mine SCMT stockpile initiative represents an innovative and bold step forward in securing the nation’s future in advanced materials and manufacturing.