President Donald Trump took another step towards unleashing American energy dominance with the opening of a Wyoming mine that will also reduce American dependence on China for critical minerals, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Breitbart News.
Lummis was on hand for the historic opening of Ramaco Resources, Inc.’s Brook Mine outside Ranchester, Wyoming, in mid-July. The mine is not only Wyoming’s first new coal mine in decades, but it will provide a wealth of geopolitically vital rare earth minerals as well, Lummis told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.
“It was incredibly significant for several reasons,” Lummis described the mine’s opening. “Of course, we just passed President Trump’s major piece of legislation, the big, beautiful bill that was very energy focused — and for good reason, because China has dominated the world’s rare earth supply chain, [producing] roughly 80 percent of the world’s rare supply chain, and this mine includes both coal and rare earth minerals. So it was a triumph.”
Lummis elaborated on the ubiquity of critical minerals in American life, emphasizing the importance of maintaining access to the important components. “There are magnets and rare earth minerals in virtually everything that has a button — everything that has a button — whether it’s a phone or a refrigerator or a dishwasher, our heavy equipment, our cars,” she said.
Unfortunately, U.S. complacency allowed China to develop a stranglehold on the global critical mineral market.
“The United States has abundant rare earth minerals, but the ‘anti mining for anything in America’ attitude that was prevalent during both the Obama and Biden presidencies really prevented us from being able to get permits for these mines,” Lummis told Breitbart News. “Those administrations slow-walked mine permitting down to the point where you couldn’t get a permit at all. And so we have put ourselves in this position.”
“The good news is now President Trump is going to get us out of it.”
Lummis praised Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who traveled to Wyoming for the mine’s grand opening, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, telling Breitbart News, “the people who are running [Trump’s] energy policy are as good as you can get.”
Wright, the primary speaker at the event, “understands and appreciates the importance of that mine for rare earth minerals,” Lummis added.
But Lummis believes coal will continue to be a valuable mineral as well, a view shared by Wright.
“When he was asked at the event by the press, ‘Well, isn’t it nice that this coal mine turned out to be a rare earth mine? Now you don’t have to worry about mining for coal. You can just mine for rare earths?’ Chris Wright said, ‘No, we need both,’ and emphasized the importance that coal still has in energy in the U.S.,” Lummis recalled from the event. “As you know, 20 percent of this nation’s electricity comes from coal, and without it, we would have brownouts and blackouts. Without it, we can’t compete with China in the race for artificial intelligence dominance and data storage dominance.”
Trump’s different approach to critical minerals and energy policy is a “game changer,” Lummis said, touting the president’s work expediting permitting through executive orders and streamlining regulations like the National Energy Policy Act (NEPA).
“His staffers know how to expedite NEPA and permitting regulations to bring [online] some of these rare earth mines and other mines that have been lingering for permits in the bowels of federal agencies for literally decades — not just years, but decades,” she said.
Trump has made combating China a priority, and critical minerals are an important weapon in the geopolitical struggle. Fortunately, Trump is effectively wielding the weapon after prior administrations ignored it.
“We have sufficient rare earth minerals in the United States to fulfill our needs,” Lummis explained. “So we can make our own semiconductors, we can make our own magnets, and we can quit relying on China for these minerals.”
“Also, as you know, President Trump negotiated a deal with Ukraine to address additional supplies for rare earth minerals with Ukraine, and can do that with other countries as well. So all of us — meaning the globe — is not as dependent on China for rare earth minerals as the entire globe is now. And when we do that, we free ourselves geopolitically from dependence on China for something that now the whole world needs through semiconductors in order to advance technology.”
Lummis said deregulation, faster permitting, and less bureaucratic interference can enable continued progress on critical mineral mining in the U.S., adding that continued investment in necessary technology and expertise is essential as well. Her home state will play an important role.
“Wyoming’s role is going to be huge,” she said with pride. “Wyoming exports twelve times more energy than it consumes. So we can be a supplier for the rest of the nation. We have every source of energy, be it base load energy through hydrocarbons — coal, oil, gas, uranium, for small modular nuclear, all provide base load energy. We’ve got it all. We also have wind and solar to provide intermittent power where that works, and more importantly, Wyoming has the expertise.”
As the economic and geopolitical significance of critical minerals increases, Lummis is excited for the role Wyoming will play and thankful for the Trump administration’s steps to address the crisis of Chinese dominance in the sector.
“People don’t adequately appreciate how critical this is to everything that happens from the minute we wake up in the morning in this country,” she said.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
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