Mulberry Industries, Ramaco Resources enter rare earth offtake MOU for Brook mine
Ramaco Resources (NASDAQ: METC) and US-based permanent magnets manufacturer Mulberry Industries have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to negotiate an offtake partnership that aims to bolster America’s domestic rare earth and permanent magnet supply chain.
Ramaco is developing critical minerals and rare earth elements at its Brook mine in Wyoming, which it says holds what is believed to be the nation’s largest unconventional deposit of rare earth elements and critical minerals sourced from coal and carbonaceous ore.
Brook is America’s first new rare earth element and critical mineral mine in over 70 years, and it will be initially focused on the vertically integrated production of commercial oxides. Full-scale mining and construction of a pilot processing facility are underway at the mine located near Sheridan.
The company this year received a second five-year land use approval from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and released summary results of the mine’s preliminary economic assessment.
Under the MOU, Ramaco will negotiate an agreement to provide Mulberry Industries, on a non-exclusive basis, with a supply of customized oxide blends that include samarium, neodymium-praseodymium, yttrium, gallium and dysprosium/terbium.
Mulberry Industries will use this domestic feedstock to bolster its existing 10-year rare earth stockpile to manufacture advanced permanent magnets at its facility in Georgia for customers across the defense, aerospace, automotive and robotics industries.
“This Ramaco Resources partnership diversifies our rare earth sourcing so we can continue to scale quickly and ensure long-term supply chain freedom for our customers,” Mulberry Industries CEO Kevin Feng said in a December press release. “We can establish a secure, ex-China supply chain for permanent magnets right here at home that strengthens America’s economic and national security.”
Mulberry Industries makes neodymium-iron (NdFeB), samarium-cobalt (SmCo) and aluminum-nickel-cobalt (AlNiCo) permanent magnets. The Georgia-based company is one of the West’s only end-to-end producers of SmCo magnets, which are essential for a variety of defense applications.
“Ramaco is proud to pursue a partnership with Mulberry Industries to supply domestically sourced rare earth oxide blends that underpin a resilient, ex-China permanent magnet supply chain,” Ramaco Resources CEO Randall Atkins stated.
“With mining at the Brook mine in Wyoming commencing earlier this year and construction of a pilot plant now underway, we will be positioned to deliver reliable feedstock tailored to Mulberry’s advanced magnet manufacturing,” Atkins added.
“Together, we seek to build a durable, transparent supply chain that helps US innovators scale with confidence for the decade ahead.”