News & Presentations
MAJOR DEPOSIT OF MAGNETIC RARE EARTH ELEMENTS DISCOVERED AT RAMACO’S BROOK MINE IN WYOMING
May 3, 2023
Following eighteen months of extensive core drilling and independent chemical analysis, NETL researchers, analysts from mining consultancy Weir International, 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.
ENERGY CEO AND CHANGE ADVOCATE FOR COAL APPOINTED TO INFLUENTIAL INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
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.
MAJOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO RESHAPE DOMESTIC ELECTRIC VEHICLE AND BATTERY MARKET
April 4, 2023
Ramaco Carbon and Oak Ridge National Laboratory — one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratories — have announced a joint project to develop new, large-scale processes for making graphite from coal. The new two-year project is funded jointly by Ramaco Carbon and ORNL via a DOE Fossil Energy & Carbon Management Program Field Work Proposal, and it will focus on scaling up to commercial level a process that has already shown success at the bench scale at ORNL.
U.S. HOUSE CANDIDATE HARRIET HAGEMAN TOURS RAMACO RESEARCH FACILITIES
October 27, 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.
RAMACO CEO TESTIFIES BEFORE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON FUTURE OF COAL
April 22, 2021
Today Randall Atkins, CEO of Wyoming-based coal technology company Ramaco Carbon, testified before the full U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In his introductory remarks, Committee Chair Sen. Joe Manchin noted that “Ramaco is leading the way in the development of coal to products.” Atkins focused his testimony on the economic and environmental benefits of developing new uses for coal.
WYOMING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COUNCIL DISMISSES PERMIT APPEAL, ALLOWS BROOK MINE TO MOVE FORWARD
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.
RAMACO CEO ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL COAL COUNCIL
November 2, 2020
In a sign of the coal industry’s growing focus on innovation, the National Coal Council (NCC) has elected as chairman one of America’s foremost advocates of “coal for products,” and developing alternative uses for coal beyond burning it for energy.
Ramaco Coal Chairman and Chief Executive Randall Atkins has formally taken the chairmanship of NCC — the coal industry’s advisory group to the federal government — following a term as vice-chair that began in 2019. Atkins was originally appointed to the NCC by former U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in 2017.
RAMACO APPOINTS DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION, WILL OVERSEE COMPANY’S TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
July 29, 2020
Ramaco Carbon announced today it had hired Charles Hill to serve as Director of Innovation. Hill will oversee the company’s “coal-to-products” technology activities, with an initial focus on Ramaco’s efforts in developing carbon fibers and composites from coal precursors. He will be principally based at Ramaco’s Sheridan, Wyoming 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 a range of private groups, many of them contracted by such organizations as Lockheed Martin and the Air Force Materials Laboratory Composites Branch.
STATE APPROVES FIRST COAL/CARBON ORE MINE IN ALMOST FOUR DECADES, AIMED AT CREATING HIGH-VALUE USES FOR WYOMING’S LARGEST RESOURCE
July 7, 2020
A historic moment for Wyoming’s mining economy was announced today, as the Department of Environmental Quality awarded tech company Ramaco Carbon approval to mine its private coal/carbon ore assets at the Brook Mine, located in a traditional mining area outside Sheridan.
This will create Wyoming’s first mine in almost four decades, but for a new purpose: developing alternative uses for coal beyond burning it, and 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.
RAMACO FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S LARGEST SCIENCE AND ENERGY LABORATORY
June 2, 2020
Ramaco Carbon has entered into a partnership with 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.
RAMACO RECEIVES KEY MINE APPROVAL FROM WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
March 2, 2020
After a lengthy period of review over almost seven years, local tech 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.
Bjorne Kristiansen, Permit Coordinator for the state Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Land Quality Division (WDEQ/LQD) 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.
RAMACO APPOINTS RESEARCH DIRECTOR FOR WYOMING, WEST VIRGINIA FACILITIES
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.
WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH RAMACO CARBON
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.
RAMACO CARBON AND TERRAPOWER TEAM UP FOR DOE-SUPPORTED PROJECT
November 5, 2019
Coal has been labeled an obstacle to achieving a cleaner environment. One project, the target of a recent Department of Energy grant, surprisingly aims to make it part of the solution. The project, which will receive over $1 million in federal funding, aims to develop an emissions-free process to produce carbon fiber using coal. The grant’s prime recipient, Ramaco Carbon, will work with TerraPower, a nuclear innovation company in Bellevue, Washington, to develop the process, which could result in significant environmental benefits.
MILLIONS IN FEDERAL FUNDING ANNOUNCED FOR RAMACO AND PARTNERS
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.
EXPERTS TALK COAL-TO-PRODUCT TECH AT RAMACO RESEARCH RODEO v2.0
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.
REPORT ON FUTURE OF COAL ISSUED TO U.S. SECRETARY OF ENERGY, CHAIRED BY RAMACO CARBON CEO
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.
RAMACO CARBON CEO ELECTED TO SENIOR LEADERSHIP OF NATIONAL COAL COUNCIL
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.
COURT UPHOLDS RAMACO’S RIGHT TO MINE COAL AT BROOK MINE
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.
RESEARCH OF DEVELOPING COAL INTO LOW-COST CARBON FIBER ADVANCES
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.
Q&A: RAMACO REASSESSES THE VALUE OF COAL
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.
AMERICAN COAL MAGAZINE FEATURES RAMACO CARBON ON FUTURE OF INDUSTRY
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.
RAMACO SUBMITS REVISED MINE PERMIT APPLICATION, PROVIDES EXTENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS
October 19, 2018
Today 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. Rather than simply addressing the issues raised by the Environmental Quality Council (EQC) in September 2017, the application revises and improves the requested permit with comprehensive environmental and quality of life protections.
COUNTY APPROVES ICAM RESEARCH CENTER FOR CONSTRUCTION
October 12, 2018
Ramaco Carbon 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.
RAMACO CEO TESTIFIES BEFORE U.S. CONGRESS ON FUTURE OF COAL
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.
RAMACO FORMS UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIONAL LABORATORY
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.
COUNTY APPROVES REZONE OF RAMACO PROPERTY
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.”
RAMACO ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION PARTNERSHIP WITH CARBON3D, INC.
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.