WEBVTT - ICYMI: US Set to Open First Rare Earth Mine in Decades

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek

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<v Speaker 1>with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>Well shares of Ramico Resources surging today up twenty nine

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<v Speaker 2>percent right now, surging as much as thirty six percent

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<v Speaker 2>earlier in the session, reaching their highest in more than

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<v Speaker 2>two years. This after the engineering and construction firm Floor

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<v Speaker 2>Corp completed a preliminary economic assessment of the company's new

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<v Speaker 2>Brook Mine in Wyoming. The brookmine has rare earth elements

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<v Speaker 2>like scandium and neodymium. It's also the first new rare

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<v Speaker 2>earth mine in the US in more than seventy years.

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<v Speaker 2>We've got with us Randall Atkins, the founder, chairman, and

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<v Speaker 2>CEO of Ramico Resources. It's the eight hundred and forty

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<v Speaker 2>five million dollar market cat miner of the metallurgical coal

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<v Speaker 2>and rare earth. He joins us from Rochester, Wyoming, where

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<v Speaker 2>tomorrow the ribbon will be cut at the official opening

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<v Speaker 2>of the new Brookmine Carbon Ore rare earth project. Also

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<v Speaker 2>so back with us is a Joe Dough, formerly metals

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<v Speaker 2>and mining reporter. He knows a ton about rare earths.

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<v Speaker 2>Now his focus is on economic Statecraft. He joins us

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<v Speaker 2>here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio. Randall, I want

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<v Speaker 2>to start where we left off with Jim Litinski over

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<v Speaker 2>at MP Materials. We just had a long conversation with

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<v Speaker 2>him just a few minutes ago about the Department of

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<v Speaker 2>Defense investment in his company. Help our viewers and listeners

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<v Speaker 2>understand where you play in the rare earth's market versus

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<v Speaker 2>where MP Materials plays and is there any overlap there,

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<v Speaker 2>like are you a competitor?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I think you know. MP Materials has been around

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<v Speaker 3>in one form or another for seventy years. It got

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<v Speaker 3>started in nineteen fifty two, as I said, or you said,

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<v Speaker 3>we're going to be the first new mine since then

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<v Speaker 3>seventy odd years forward. They produce sort of the lighter

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<v Speaker 3>rare earth elements. We produce the heavier and medium magnetics.

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<v Speaker 3>And we also produce or will produce a number of

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<v Speaker 3>critical materials and metals that will be very significant, like

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<v Speaker 3>gallium and germanium and scandium. So we have sort of

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<v Speaker 3>a different product slate. Most importantly, though, you know, our

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<v Speaker 3>stuff has been found in coal. Somewhat remarkably, coal is

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<v Speaker 3>not radioactive. The material that MP minds unfortunately is radioactive

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<v Speaker 3>and has been shipped to China to be processed, refined,

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<v Speaker 3>and then frankly mostly sold over there. So we will

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<v Speaker 3>be kind of a team USA proposition. We will mine

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<v Speaker 3>this coal in Wyoming, we will process it here into

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<v Speaker 3>rorosts and critical minerals, and we will sell to domestic customers.

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<v Speaker 3>So we're looking forward to getting started, and you know,

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<v Speaker 3>ground zero is tomorrow morning.

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<v Speaker 4>Hey, Randy, jo do here, Thanks for coming on. I

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<v Speaker 4>want to bring up a question that I've gotten from

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<v Speaker 4>some of the investors in the space related to your

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<v Speaker 4>new project, and the question that keeps coming up is

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<v Speaker 4>how are they actually going to separate the rrerors and

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<v Speaker 4>process them. You, I know, have been explaining that it

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<v Speaker 4>is possible, but I think there's still a lot of

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<v Speaker 4>questions in the market because it's going to be a

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<v Speaker 4>bit of a first of its kind, which always leaves

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<v Speaker 4>a lot of question marks.

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<v Speaker 3>Sure, you bet. And what we have done is we

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<v Speaker 3>have designed, as you know, Joe, they call it an

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<v Speaker 3>engineering a flow sheet, which is kind of a critical

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<v Speaker 3>path as to how you will in essence process an engineer,

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<v Speaker 3>essentially an extraction and separation technique. So we will be

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<v Speaker 3>basically be taking our call out. We will be doing

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<v Speaker 3>a mild benefaction of that to kind of size it,

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<v Speaker 3>and then we will use a processing which is conventional

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<v Speaker 3>where we will use certain leaching technologies, certain separation technologies,

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<v Speaker 3>including physical and magnetic, and what we are doing is

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<v Speaker 3>pretty conventional. The beauty, as I said, is because the

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<v Speaker 3>coal is much softer than the material that most rarers

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<v Speaker 3>are found in, which is hard minerals. And of course

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<v Speaker 3>it is also not radioactive, so we don't have turbium,

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<v Speaker 3>we don't have uranium, we don't have to deal with

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<v Speaker 3>those issues. That we will have a much less complex

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<v Speaker 3>form of processing and flour. Who knows a lot about it,

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<v Speaker 3>certainly more than we do, has confirmed it's both commercially

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<v Speaker 3>and most importantly technically feasible to use and process the

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<v Speaker 3>way that is set forth in their document. The interesting thing, though,

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<v Speaker 3>that I'll point out is we have been involved in

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<v Speaker 3>exploring a host of technology that could be applied to

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<v Speaker 3>coal for probably over ten years now, so we are

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<v Speaker 3>in parallel working with the National Labs of the Department

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<v Speaker 3>of Energy on a number of novel technologies that might

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<v Speaker 3>be deployed to even enhance the that coal can be

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<v Speaker 3>processed them as things as laser technologies, even some ability

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<v Speaker 3>to take microbes and proteins train them to actually eat

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<v Speaker 3>rare earth for lack of a better description. So there's

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of exciting things going on in the space

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<v Speaker 3>and this is kind of a ground zero proposition.

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<v Speaker 4>So rindy to pull us back into rare earth though,

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<v Speaker 4>I mean, this announcement from the DoD and from MP

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<v Speaker 4>Materials seems huge for them, but it also seems like

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<v Speaker 4>the knock on effect for you guys would be significant.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I think if the stock market is any indicator,

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<v Speaker 3>I think the answer to that is yes. So again,

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<v Speaker 3>we have been kind of tied with the hip with

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<v Speaker 3>the government for a long time. They're the ones that

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<v Speaker 3>found this, frankly about eight years ago, and so we

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<v Speaker 3>will certainly be involved in exploring with the government, the

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<v Speaker 3>Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and other you

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<v Speaker 3>know how we can mutually be helpful to trying to

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<v Speaker 3>advance the America's cause here because you know, we're in

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<v Speaker 3>a mineral war of course with China, which we all know,

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<v Speaker 3>and this mine is frankly large enough. You know, we

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<v Speaker 3>are at one point seven million tons and climbing north

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<v Speaker 3>of total rare earth oxides. You know, the US uses

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<v Speaker 3>about ten thousand tons a year, so you know this

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<v Speaker 3>mine could supply a rather ample portion of that requirement

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<v Speaker 3>for decades and decades to come. So we'll look forward

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<v Speaker 3>to exploring further how we can be how we can

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<v Speaker 3>do business with the government.

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<v Speaker 4>Randy, Can we assume that you're in similar talks with

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<v Speaker 4>the Defense Department that we just saw with MP.

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<v Speaker 3>We have not entered into direct talks with the Defense Department,

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<v Speaker 3>but we certainly have had indirect outreaches in both directions.

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<v Speaker 2>Are you going to be more direct now that you

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<v Speaker 2>see what the DD has done within its investment in

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<v Speaker 2>MP materials.

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<v Speaker 5>Would you be open to an investment?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh? Sure, we will be open to considering whatever it

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<v Speaker 3>seems to make sense, of course, firstly for our shareholders,

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<v Speaker 3>but also of course for the nation and to the

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<v Speaker 3>extent that this mine, which is frankly a potential national treasure,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, it certainly is something that we want to

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<v Speaker 3>make sure that the Defense Department and other arms of

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<v Speaker 3>the government can utilize its opportunity. So we will be

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<v Speaker 3>certainly open to exploring things with the Defense Department.

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<v Speaker 5>Not to be Debbie Downer. But we all know the

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<v Speaker 5>impact that coal can have on the environment. So I'm

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<v Speaker 5>just curious, how do you make sure whether it's coal

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<v Speaker 5>mining that we know can lead to acid mind drainage, Like,

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<v Speaker 5>there are lots of things that we have learned over

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<v Speaker 5>the last fifty one hundred years in terms of coal's impact.

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<v Speaker 5>How do you prevent that?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I tell you the mark of the last time

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<v Speaker 3>I was on your program. If you remember one of

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<v Speaker 3>my one liners is coal is too valuable to burn,

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<v Speaker 3>And I think this is certainly an apt point of

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<v Speaker 3>exclamation on that thesis. So we have been really working

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<v Speaker 3>for alternative uses of coal to make things like precursors

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<v Speaker 3>for carbon fibers, synthetic graphites, graphenes, a number of different

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<v Speaker 3>types of uses that people, you know, frankly wouldn't have

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<v Speaker 3>thought coal could be used for. Candidly, the Chinese are

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<v Speaker 3>using a lot of coal to do just this. They

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<v Speaker 3>frankly use about close to five hundred million tons a

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<v Speaker 3>year for various types of coal to products. So you know,

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<v Speaker 3>we are basically using this coal primarily for rare earth.

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<v Speaker 3>There will be some use we can make of it

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<v Speaker 3>for traditional thermal purposes. But you know, as a practical matter,

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<v Speaker 3>the main economic driver for this is rare Earth.

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<v Speaker 5>Come back soon, Randall. Thank you so much, Randall Atkins, Founder, chairman,

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<v Speaker 5>CEO Ramico Resources joining us, and of course homage to

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<v Speaker 5>our Jodo who is unbelievable in the space and so

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<v Speaker 5>much more. We are better because of it.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you. This is Bloomberg