New Mine Inches America Closer To Unshackling Itself From China

The U.S. is opening its first new Wyoming coal mine in decades to extract both coal and critical rare earth metals, inching the country closer to the Trump administration’s energy independence goals.

The Brook Mine opened on Friday and will soon begin extracting coal and various rare earth metals, which the U.S. currently relies heavily on China to supply. Though Former President Joe Biden placed stringent regulations on mining, President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders to unshackle the coal industry and has made moves to increase domestic rare earth mineral acquisition.

“This is America answering the call. We’ve become too dependent on critical minerals from countries overseas, most of all China,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday as he joined the mine’s developer, Ramaco Resources, for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We have these materials here in the United States. … In Wyoming, we have two critical things together: coal, the biggest source of electricity on the planet, and rare earth minerals, critical to our national security and our economic security.”

Wright noted that stringent regulation forced domestic mining to shut down, though the Trump administration is working to revive it. The Biden administration cracked down on the coal industry, which helped lead to shuttered power plants around the U.S. and an increased risk of blackouts.

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements vital for producing several technologies, from smartphones to military targeting and surveillance systems. Despite their critical role, the U.S. relies on imports for 80% of its rare earth needs — mostly from China, which dominates the global rare earth market and controls 92% of the world’s refining capacity.

Notably, the Pentagon recently moved to become the largest shareholder of stock in MP Minerals, which oversees another rare earth minerals mine located in Mountain Pass, California.

DOE and Ramaco Resources did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.