May 18, 2023

While many majors are walking away from the coal business to improve ESG metrics and appease investors, some savvy miners are looking at ways to advance clean energy projects on current and former coal mine sites. Ramaco Resources… has this month discovered new potential magnetic rare earth elements (REEs) at its Brook mine in Wyoming. Ramaco’s subsidiary, Ramaco Carbon, is partnering with laboratories, researchers, and manufacturers and is privately investing to create an ecosystem of carbon tech innovation — building what it calls Carbon Valley in Wyoming.

Read coverage: Mining.com

May 3, 2023

Following eighteen months of extensive core drilling and independent chemical analysis, NETL researchers and Ramaco now believe that the Brook Mine property contains perhaps the largest unconventional deposit of REEs discovered in the United States, and particularly in-demand magnetic REEs.

Read coverage: Casper Star-Tribune

April 26, 2023

Ramaco CEO Randall Atkins was appointed to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Coal Industry Advisory Board (CIAB). The board advises the IEA on coal-related policies and projects around the world. Atkins will not only represent the United States coal industry, but also advocate for the international development of alternative uses for coal, such as replacing petroleum as a cheaper, more environmental feedstock in advanced materials such as carbon fiber, graphene, and graphite, a critical material in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.

Read more

April 11, 2023

Ramaco Carbon foresees a different use for Powder River Basin coal, one that potentially could be more climate friendly. They recently partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is based in Tennessee, on a two-year project to use coal to make graphite – a critical ingredient to electric vehicle batteries. Right now, about 80 percent of graphite comes from China.

Read the article: Wyoming Public Radio

October 28, 2022

The future of Wyoming’s largest industry was the focus when Republican candidate for Wyoming’s at-large U.S. House seat, Harriet Hageman, visited Sheridan and toured the iCAM research campus. During her visit, Hageman engaged with researchers and watched demonstrations of products and materials that use coal as the precursor.

Read coverage: Sheridan Press, County 17

July 17, 2021

It makes sense that northeast Wyoming could become the nation’s Carbon Valley, and the region is well on its way to earning the nickname, said Rusty Bell, a Campbell County commissioner and supporter of the initiative.

One company on the leading edge of creating this new Carbon Valley is Ramaco Carbon, a private endeavor near Sheridan that has built a combination research/incubator facilities that can take coal and turn it into valuable carbon products.

Read coverage: US News and World Report/Associated Press

April 23, 2021

Ramaco Carbon CEO Randall Atkins testified before the full U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on uses for coal beyond energy production.

Atkins appeared at the invitation of ranking member Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming and committee chair Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Both senators praised Ramaco’s innovative focus during their opening remarks, with Manchin noting that “Ramaco is leading the way in the development of coal to products.”

Read coverage: Sheridan Media, Sweetwater Now, CBS News Channel 5 Cheyenne, Wyoming Business Report

December 17, 2020

Following a hearing on December 16, the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council (“EQC”) dismissed an appeal meant to delay the Brook Mine, the state’s first coal mine in over forty years. In doing so the EQC affirmed the grant of the mine and reclamation permit issued by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”), who had formally approved the mine permit in July. The new mine will be located in the historic mining area north of Sheridan.

The Brook Mine and Ramaco Carbon have been vocally supported by a wide range of Wyoming business and economic leaders, and dozens of state legislators and officials. Following its approval this summer, DEQ Director Todd Parfitt praised the “incredible amount of time and effort” put into ensuring the permit had sound environmental and quality of life protections.

Read coverage: Casper Star-Tribune, Sheridan Media, Sheridan Press, Cowboy State Daily

November 6, 2020

The leader of a coal technology firm with operations in Wyoming was elected to chair the National Coal Council, a federal advisory group providing guidance to the nation’s energy secretary. Randall Atkins has been a sustained advocate for advancing coal to carbon products research, or the effort to utilize coal beyond just electricity production.

“The coming years may be far brighter for the coal industry than many realize, and it’s been my privilege to work with the National Coal Council to help chart a new course toward this stronger future,” Atkins said in a statement. “Regardless of dated perceptions, there are vast, exciting and innovative developments being made in the use of coal both in the United States and abroad. The NCC has been at the forefront for providing the research, policy analysis, and industry recommendations our country needs to utilize its most abundant national resource.”

Read coverage: Casper Star-Tribune, Sheridan Media, KPVI TV, Herald-Dispatch

October 19, 2020

In a podcast for top market intelligence firm S&P Global, Ramaco Carbon CEO Randall Atkins comments on the coal industry and future, bipartisan areas of support.

“There’s a number of aspects about what we’re doing, which is more sort of a technological use of coal, that I think would be probably well received by both parties even if you have a sort of a general bias against the notion of coal.”

Read the article

Listen to the full podcast

July 29, 2020

Ramaco Carbon announced that former NASA engineer Charles Hill has been hired as the company’s director of innovation. Hill will oversee the company’s “coal-to-products” technology activities, and will be principally based at the company’s Sheridan office.

Hill brings a deep background and experience in composite materials and process engineering to his new position, including 13 years of work with NASA and a decade with the Air Force Research Laboratory. He has also worked with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop forms of large-scale additive manufacturing.

Read coverage

July 8, 2020

Wyoming environmental regulators have approved Ramaco’s application to construct the state’s first new coal mine in nearly half a century.

Coal from the mine will be used to develop alternative uses for coal beyond burning it, potentially revitalizing a key facet of both the state and the national economy. This also constitutes a permit of one of the largest private coal/carbon ore reserves in the country. The company said pre-mine development work would begin shortly, and that it intends to employ local Wyoming miners affected by the industry’s downturn in the state.

Read coverage: Wyoming Public Media, Sheridan Media, Casper Star-Tribune, IHS Markit, KVTQ TV

June 2, 2020

Ramaco has entered into a partnership with Tennessee-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the nation’s largest U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) science and energy laboratory, to explore innovations for the conversion of coal to high-value advanced carbon products and materials.

The five-year umbrella cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) will allow ORNL and Ramaco Carbon to work together on new projects that use coal as a manufacturing feedstock for carbon fibers, building products and composites, as well as electrodes for energy storage devices and new materials for additive manufacturing, including large-scale 3D printing. The research will be funded by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Ramaco Carbon. Previously, Ramaco Carbon and ORNL collaborated on related research under separate agreements for nearly four years.

Read coverage: S&P Global, Sheridan Media, WV News, Wyoming Public Radio, Oil City News, Mining Magazine

May 14, 2020

Ramaco Carbon is a step closer to opening a new mine in Wyoming despite the resource’s financial woes in the state.

April 24, 2020

Two months ago, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality deemed the company’s revised application for a necessary permit technically complete. Since then, the agency has been accepting public comments on the proposed mine.

Over 100 comments flooded the agency by the Thursday deadline, including a large number that voiced emphatic support for the project’s economic promise.

March 2, 2020

After a lengthy period of review over almost seven years, local company Ramaco Carbon has received a key approval on its application to mine its private coal assets at the Brook Mine, located in a historic mining area outside Sheridan.

Bjarne Kristiansen, permit coordinator for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Land Quality Division District 3, informed Ramaco in a written document last week that Brook Mine’s permit application has been deemed technically complete under the Wyoming statutes governing the mine approval process.

January 30, 2020

With domestic competition from natural gas and the volatile nature of foreign markets, experts say coal’s future is unpredictable. West Virginia, one of the states most reliant on coal, will soon be home to a research facility to transform coal into carbon products. Ramaco Carbon, a Wyoming-based carbon technology company, will be opening the research facility in Charleston, the state’s capital.

“West Virginia is truly blessed with an abundance of natural resources and our coal is as good and as plentiful as it gets,” Gov. Jim Justice said. “We absolutely need to continue doing all we can to harness the power of coal in every way possible and having this facility to test new ways to convert this dynamic resource is a great opportunity for all.”

January 26, 2020

Ramaco Carbon plans to have a research facility open in the Charleston area of West Virginia within the next month, according to Chairman and CEO Randall Atkins. The company was highlighted during Gov. Jim Justice’s annual State of the State Address at the start of the legislative session. It has secured a location for its Charleston base of operations in the West Virginia Regional Technology Park.

January 22, 2020

Ramaco Carbon has hired Christopher Yurchick to serve as director of research and manage research operations for the company in Sheridan and Charleston, West Virginia. Coming to Ramaco with over a decade of experience working in joint academic/industrial ventures, Yurchick will help spearhead the development of Ramaco’s research facilities. The first research center, called an iCAM, is now under construction in Sheridan County and is scheduled to open this summer. A second research center is planned to be located in West Virginia.

January 9, 2020

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice has announced an agreement with Ramaco Carbon to open a new research facility in West Virginia to pursue research related to the use of coal as the precursor for advanced carbon products and materials. “I am excited beyond belief to welcome Ramaco Carbon’s next incredible research facility to our great state. It’s a complete game-changer for us and, really, the entire country,” Justice said during his state-of-the-state address Wednesday.

November 5, 2019

TerraPower, the venture that’s working on next-generation nuclear reactors with backing from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is now working on next-generation uses for coal as well. The privately held company is part of a team that’s receiving more than $1 million in federal funding to develop an emissions-free process to produce carbon fiber from coal. The prime recipient of the funding is Ramaco Carbon — a coal resource, research and carbon manufacturing company that focuses on developing high-value applications for coal that don’t involve its use in power plants.

October 30, 2019

Under federal law, only the director of the Department of Environmental Quality can decide whether to issue a permit for Ramaco Carbon’s Brook Mine, Laramie County District Judge Catherine Rogers ruled Friday. The decision is in favor of Ramaco Carbon, which aims to open the first new coal mine in Wyoming in over four decades, as feedstock for research and manufacturing efforts around coal-to-products.

September 23, 2019

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Ramaco Carbon is the recipient of millions in new federal grants to support the creation of high-value alternative uses for coal in developing both advanced carbon products and advanced materials. Ramaco Carbon is the recipient and a sub-recipient on four cost-shared research and development grants, totaling more than $5 million.

“We hope that this can lead to both a brighter future for the wider coal industry and perhaps even help establish Sheridan, Wyoming as the Carbon Valley nexus for this cutting-edge research,” said Ramaco Carbon CEO Randall Atkins.

Read coverage: Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Sheridan Press, Sweetwater Now, Washington Times

July 9, 2019

Researchers with expertise in converting coal into innovative advanced materials and products shared their insights with research colleagues from private industry, other national laboratories and academia at the second annual Ramaco Research Rodeo (R3) in Sheridan, Wyoming. In addition to representatives from National Energy Technology Laboratory — a Ramaco partner — R3 participants attended from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ohio University, the University of Kentucky, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Western Research Institute, the University of Illinois at Chicago and West Virginia University.

Read more here

June 13, 2019

Once upon a time, coal helped to usher in a new technological age. So much concentrated energy in such a convenient package helped power the steam engines that drove the Industrial Revolution, transforming the way we live and work. Now, with coal’s future anything but certain, innovators are looking for new uses for the mineral that could fuel a new carbon-based high-tech manufacturing industry…

Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, said, “What Ramaco’s doing with carbon fiber, graphene, graphite, 3D printing, that’s a great way to use our resource and make it viable in the future. Is it going to replace the 300 million tons we’re mining right now? Probably not. But it’s an innovative use of the resource and it’s a great project.”

Read the article from Cowboy State Daily

May 21, 2019

At the request of U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, the National Coal Council was asked to study innovative new uses for coal beyond power generation. Sheridan-based Ramaco Carbon was asked to spearhead the report’s creation.  The report – “Coal in a New Carbon Age: Powering a Wave of Innovation in Advanced Products & Manufacturing” – concludes that coal offers significant potential beyond its current uses as a feedstock to fuel power plants or to produce coke used in making steel.

April 25, 2019

Ramaco Carbon CEO Randall Atkins has been elected vice chair of the National Coal Council (NCC) for the remainder of the year and chair-elect for 2020. Atkins was originally appointed to the NCC by U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in 2017. Atkins also chairs a task force currently drafting a report for Secretary Perry on advanced uses for coal, including manufacturing of many forms of carbon products and materials. The report is titled “Coal in a New Carbon Age: Powering a Wave of Innovation in Advanced Products and Manufacturing,” and is scheduled to be delivered to Perry in June.

April 22, 2019

Ramaco Carbon’s ability to mine its private coal assets cleared a key hurdle, when a Wyoming District Court Judge in Cheyenne affirmed that the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council was correct to give Ramaco an “order in lieu” of consent over objections from Big Horn Coal, a subsidiary of Utah-based coal mining company Lighthouse Resources and a surface owner to part of Ramaco’s holdings. A “order in lieu” of consent is a provision in Wyoming statutes that allows a state agency to grant consent to a mining applicant’s permit filing when a surface owner is being unreasonable in withholding such consent.

April 2, 2019

A research project led by Western Research Institute, aimed at lowering the cost of carbon fiber for use in the automotive industry, has been approved by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed into the second year of a three-year program. Ramaco Carbon is an industry partner in the project, and part of a coalition that  includes University of Wyoming’s Mechanical Engineering Department, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratories. The project was selected under a competitive funding opportunity with the final negotiated project valued at $5.2 million.

Read the article from Composites World

February 5, 2019

Using coal to create products such as carbon fibers, fertilizers, resins and building materials could create a new source of demand for a fuel struggling to compete in the domestic power market, panelists said at a recent industry event. Ramaco Carbon CEO Randall Atkins said during a Feb. 1 panel at the 19th Coaltrans USA conference in Miami that China uses an estimated 200 million to 300 million tons of coal a year to produce chemicals, and there could be a similar market in the U.S. “I think there’s a fascinating opportunity, not only to help the coal industry from the standpoint of creating the potential for more jobs — because we could basically mine coal for better margins than most of the thermal coal is mined for today for utilities — but also to repurpose a lot of old mines” and revitalize the communities that depended on them, he said.

Read the article from S&P Global

January 25, 2019

What do carbon fiber, steel, textiles, shampoo, and laundry detergent have in common? They can all be made directly from coal or have their cost and performance improved with additives derived from coal. Innovative work at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) — a Ramaco Carbon partner — is attempting to expand that list to many other consumer products that are in demand in the global marketplace.

As NETL’s Chris Matranga explains: “We started with a coal feedstock costing about one penny. With just a few hours of processing we converted this penny’s worth of coal into 1 liter of graphene quantum dots in water, which has a current market value of approximately $50,000. The work shows how dramatically coal-based feedstocks will reduce manufacturing costs.”

Read the article from R&D Magazine

January 18, 2019

Standard to all Wyoming state mining permits, and part of the formal review process, is a series of requests by regulators for additional information from the applicant. As part of Brook Mine’s permit application for a small mining operation outside Sheridan, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) has requested additional technical information. The DEQ request focuses on the same environmental safeguards that Ramaco is equally committed to as well.

Read coverage: Sheridan Press 

Read more on our Environment page

December 20, 2018

In an op-ed for the Sheridan Press, Jeff Barron of WWC Engineering — a lead on Ramaco Carbon’s facility project — details the 59-69 direct jobs Ramaco is creating in the Sheridan area as part of the facility’s construction, not including indirect job creation and employment after the facility opens. 

Read the letter here

December 10, 2018

In a report on the non-energy uses of coal, the UK-based IEA Clean Coal Centre flags Ramaco Carbon’s project as a promising development. The report notes Ramaco’s facility would produce carbon fibre and activated carbon initially but has plans to add to the product range as new products emerge, providing a degree of product flexibility to respond to the future demands on the coal industry.

Read the report here

November 29, 2018

Ramaco’s Director of Operations Ken Woodring testified before the Wyoming Legislative Joint Committee on the company’s strategy and forward progress on its facility construction. He is followed by Don Collins of Western Research Instutute, a Ramaco Carbon partner on coal-to-products research.

Watch a video of the presentation

Read the presentation

November 19, 2018

In this interview with Argus Media, Ramaco Carbon CEO Randy Atkins discusses the potential for alternative uses for coal as a feedstock that could lower the cost of products like carbon fiber and resin and the macroeconomic benefits to the coal industry of diversifying coal’s uses.

Read the interview

November 1, 2018

Ramaco Carbon CEO Randy Atkins was invited to publish a column in American Coal Magazine. The column discusses the future of the industry, the economic potential of coal-to-products, and the implications of the company’s Sheridan project.

Read the column

October 19, 2018

Carbon tech company Ramaco Carbon submitted a revised permit application for the Brook Mine, on mineral reserves and land it owns and controls in Sheridan County. The application revises and improves the requested permit with comprehensive environmental and quality of life protections.

Read coverage: Sheridan Press, Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming Public Media

Read more on our Environment page

October 12, 2018

Wyoming carbon tech company Ramaco Carbon announced today that construction of the first phase of its campus, named iCAM (Carbon Advanced Materials), has been green-lighted by county officials. Site work is scheduled to begin immediately.

Read coverage: Sheridan Press, Buckrail

September 21, 2018

Local youth angler Brayden Brastrup, his adult angler partner Ken Woodring, and guide Sean Santa took home first prize for the Ramaco Carbon team in Joey’s Fall Fly, a charity fly-fishing tournament held in the Big Horn Mountains. The annual competition is organized by Joey’s Foundation, a Sheridan-based nonprofit that pairs young people with mentors and introduces them to fishing and the outdoors.

August 13, 2018

Using coal to make graphene, carbon fiber and other products could support 2,600 Wyoming jobs annually, according to a new report from the American Jobs Project. The U.C. Berkeley-based group is a nonpartisan think tank studying job potential in energy transition.

Read coverage: Casper Star-Tribune

August 13, 2018

Influential DC-based publication Axios profiles Ramaco Carbon, noting that the company “represents the leading edge of what could be a new, high-value market for coal after decades of being America’s cheapest power source.” The article follows testimony by Randy Atkins before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as a report noting coal-to-products could create thousands of jobs.

Read the article

August 17, 2018

Canoes, small drift boats and kayaks will soon have an easier entry point into the Tongue River north of Sheridan. Ramaco Carbon is sponsoring the construction of a new boat ramp at the Kleenburn Recreation Area. Ramaco looked at its property along the Tongue River, talked to adjacent landowners, consulted with a hydrological engineer, applied for its Army Corps of Engineers permit and talked to the Sheridan Community Land Trust before settling on the location for the boat ramp.

Read coverage: Sheridan Press

July 25, 2018

Ramaco Carbon CEO Randy Atkins spoke before the the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources as part of a hearing titled “Assessing Innovative and Alternative Uses of Coal.” Atkins said Ramaco’s aim is to use the carbon from coal to create various products. Those efforts are focused in four areas: coal to carbon fiber; coal to resins, which will be used in 3-D manufacturing; coal to building products; and coal to medical technology, which will use carbon to create medical sensors.

Watch the appearance

Read coverage: Wyoming Business Report, Sheridan Press

July 10-13, 2018

Ramaco Carbon organized three days of meetings and exchange of ideas aimed at promoting the use of coal to create products. The event brought together scientists from around the country to talk about what they’re working on, and how their work might come into play with Ramaco Carbon’s efforts in Sheridan.

Those attending the event include representatives of facilities such as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Kentucky, Ohio University, the University of Illinois in Chicago, Spruceworks LLC, the University of Wisconsin, the Western Research Institute, Southern Research and Terrapower.

More information and videos here

June 7, 2018

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory has joined forces with Wyoming-based Ramaco Carbon to develop what could become a new coal-based feed stock for valuable consumer products. The organizations have signed a umbrella cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA), allowing them to work together on specific projects.

Read coverage: WV State Journal

Read our release here

March 6, 2018

Sheridan County commissioners voted to approve the rezone of about 114 acres of Ramaco’s privately-owned lands north of Sheridan from agricultural to industrial, allowing the company to move forward with its plan to build manufacturing and research facilities on the land. In a statement, CEO Randy Atkins said, “We humbly extend our sincere thanks to the Sheridan community. … We look forward to rapidly moving ahead with iPark and iCam as positive additions to the community and to Wyoming overall.”

Read our statement here

Read coverage:  Wyoming Business Report, Sheridan Press

November 8, 2017

Ramaco Carbon announced a production partnership agreement with Carbon, a Silicon Valley-based 3D manufacturing company. Under the agreement, Ramaco Carbon will produce a variety of products and component parts for third parties using Carbon’s 3D printers. These components will be manufactured at Ramaco’s Wyoming iPark industrial facility outside of Sheridan.

Read coverage: Sheridan Press, Wyoming Business Report, 3Ders

September 13, 2017

National outlet Bloomberg profiles the novel research being conducted to turn coal into valuable products, such as carbon fiber and electrical conduits. The article features Ramaco research partners at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and more, and notes the company’s facility will facilitate the creation of new research and intellectual property.

Read the article here

July 31, 2017

The company behind what could be Wyoming’s first new coal mine in years has bet big on the black rocks — but not for generating electricity. Ramaco Carbon LLC’s is on its way to building the Brook mine between Sheridan, Wyo., and the Montana border.

The strip mine would be just phase one of a plan that includes a research laboratory and industrial park in the Tongue River Valley. It would be an entire complex dedicated to the idea of turning coal into carbon fiber — a stronger, lighter alternative to metals like steel and aluminum for use in manufacturing.

Read the article here