U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright touted the importance of coal and Wyoming on Friday at the ribbon cutting for Brook Mine, the first U.S. rare earth mine in 70 years and the state’s first new coal mine in decades.
He said developments like the Brook Mine are critical for breaking U.S. dependence on China for supplying the critical minerals used in everything from fighter jets to wind turbines.
Speaking to about 220 people gathered at Ramaco Resources' facility between Ranchester and Sheridan, Wright said it’s time for America to dominate rare earth development.
“Anything in your life that has a button, you start your car with the button or your dishwasher or your refrigerator, your washing machine, your F-35 fighter jet — all of those things have rare earth elements playing a critical role in the design and the operation of those products,” he said. “It's an industry that infiltrates everything with a button, which in a modern world is almost everything.”
The ceremony marked the opening of not only the first new rare earth element mine on American soil in more than seven decades, but also the first new coal mine in Wyoming in nearly 50 years.
The operation will extract rare earth elements directly from coal, creating what officials called a "twofer" for American energy independence.
Wright emphasized the strategic importance of breaking China's dominance in rare earth processing.
"That industry today is completely dominated by China. Completely," he said. "They don't mine all of it, but even the stuff that's mined elsewhere” has to be processed in China.
It’s that country’s goal to “have a purposeful effort to completely control that industry."
Former U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-West Virginia, who is now a board member of Ramaco Resources, praised President Donald Trump's support for coal mining communities.
"I am proud to be part of this Ramaco board, this Ramaco family," Manchin said. "I've said, ‘I don't care whether you live in California, whether you think you hate coal or not, you better get on your knees and say a prayer for a coal miner and those who gave you the energy that you have today that you take for granted."
