WSJ: Old Coal Mine could hold Billions in Rare Earths

WSJ: Old Coal Mine has Billions in Rare Earths

WSJ: Old Coal Mine has Billions in Rare Earths

Twelve years ago, former Wall Street banker Randall Atkins bought an old coal mine outside Sheridan, Wyo., sight unseen, for about $2 million.

Several years after Atkins bought the Brook Mine, government researchers came around asking if they could run some tests to see if the ground contained something called “rare-earth elements.”

That government researchers are looking out for America is good news.  Yeah, that’s pretty cynical, but recall President Reagan’s joke.

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help. “

The deposit was found in conjunction with researchers at the Energy Department’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. They spent years developing a model that combines data with artificial intelligence to predict unconventional deposits of rare earths and critical minerals, and it forecast sizable deposits in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, which includes the Ramaco site.

Rare earths minerals are a strategic resource.  Most of the cool technology relies upon them.  Those really powerful little magnets are made from rare earths.  China mines most of the rare earth minerals and they are not a friend and ally. 

It’s good to see the Department of Energy working to make America less reliant on foreign trade.  I hope the mine owner, Randall Atkins, becomes fabulously wealthy.