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 a year for electricity and extract more than 450 tons of elements annually.
“This one mine can break our reliance on China,” Ramaco Resources CEO and chair Randy Atkins said at a July 11 ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the mine about three miles away, at Ramaco’s offices and labs. The nearest town is Ranchester of 1,064 residents, less than 10 miles south of the Montana state line and about 180 miles east of Yellowstone National Park….