Brook Mine Rare Earth Lawsuit Reveals How a $2 Million Coal Buy Became a $37 Billion Controversy

It was difficult not to feel as though something truly historic was taking place when the governor of Wyoming, two U.S. senators, a sitting congresswoman, and the country’s Energy Secretary were gathered in front of cameras outside the Brook Mine last July in the sweltering summer heat. The first rare earth mineral mine to open in the United States in more than 70 years was being inaugurated by Lexington, Kentucky-based coal company Ramaco Resources. Chris Wright, the Energy Secretary, referred to it as a renaissance. Randall Atkins, the CEO, referred to it as a rising tide. For a while, the stock market appeared to concur.

As it happens, a federal lawsuit is currently centered around that ceremony.

Ramaco, Atkins, and CFO Jeremy Sussman are accused in a class action lawsuit filed in January 2026 in the U.S. Southern District of New York of misleading investors about what was or was not happening at the Brook Mine following that much-heralded opening. Lynn Henning, the lead plaintiff, filed the lawsuit on behalf of investors who purchased Ramaco securities between July 31 and October 23, 2025. The main accusation is clear: after the grand opening, no substantial mining activity started at the Brook Mine. The lawsuit claims that the ceremony was just that—a ceremony rather than the start of operations.
A report released by Wolfpack Research, an activist short-selling company that wagered against Ramaco’s stock and then made its doubts public, served as a major source of inspiration for the lawsuit. Since Wolfpack stands to gain when a stock it targets declines in value, its credibility depends critically on the caliber of its research. Wolfpack is the type of company that sharpens its knives before speaking. The company came to the conclusion that the Brook Mine was what it called a “Potemkin Mine”—a facade, something that appeared real from a distance but had little substance underneath—using drone footage of the mine site in the months after the opening. According to Wolfpack, after consulting with fifteen specialists in rare earth mining, none of them thought the project would be profitable. The stark terms “pump and dump,” “science project,” and “modern day fraud” that those experts allegedly used are now included in a federal complaint.

When Wolfpack’s report was released in October 2025, Ramaco’s stock price dropped 9.6% right away. The stock dropped from its post-opening highs by almost 45% by early April 2026, from $27.72 per share to about $15. It’s not a correction. It’s a collapse. And lawyers are drawn to this type of collapse.

Ramaco’s reaction has been restrained and succinct. In an email to WyoFile, the company stated that it has “meritorious defenses to all claims” and declined to comment further. We don’t learn much from that standard posture. The language from Ramaco’s February 2026 earnings call, where an executive discussed pit expansion work and the segregation of “several hundred additional tons” of rare earth ore for testing, is a little more illuminating. That could be interpreted as real operational advancement. It could also be interpreted as a very meticulously crafted minimum disclosure.

The history of the Brook Mine is truly fascinating, which complicates the current situation. In 2011, Atkins paid about $2 million to Brink’s, the armored car company, for the abandoned mine. At first, he was interested in coal. Buried in the clays above and below the coal seams, he reportedly discovered something far more geopolitically significant: rare earth elements like scandium, gallium, germanium, and others that China has long controlled almost all of the world. The National Energy Technology Laboratory became involved, the mine was awarded state and federal grants, and Fluor Corporation conducted an independent evaluation of it shortly before it opened. Both technical and commercial viability were validated by that evaluation. In May 2025, Ramaco received a $6 million grant from Wyoming. The company is still in good standing with that grant project, according to the state as of this writing.

There is also a second lawsuit that was filed independently but concurrently. Ramaco filed a lawsuit against former executive Alex J. Moyes in March 2026, claiming that before departing to join rival USA Rare Earth in October 2025, Moyes sent more than forty private documents, including financial models, process flowsheets, and materials related to Department of Energy work, to his personal account. This was not a typical departure, according to the complaint. Ramaco contends that the quantity of documents collected and the timing point to something more intentional. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court in Wyoming, and it is presently in the early stages of its proceedings. The court is still debating the issue of forensic device access and injunctive relief.

It’s hard not to notice some tension between the messier reality that’s emerging in the courts and the story America obviously wanted to tell about Brook Mine as all of this is happening. There is a problem with the rare earth supply chain. China has a firm hold on those resources. Given the current geopolitical climate, there is an urgent need for a domestic alternative. Because of all of that, the Brook Mine opening seemed worthy of celebration. It’s still unclear if the underlying geology of the mine warrants that enthusiasm or if the timeline that investors were sold was ever feasible. These are distinct issues, and courts typically take their time addressing them.

As of right now, Ramaco’s stock is still significantly lower than it was on the day of that sunlit ribbon-cutting in Sheridan, the Brook Mine is still open, and the lawsuits are still pending. The shareholders’ complaint, according to a University of Wyoming finance professor, is a “fairly standard securities class action”—a type of case that depends on whether company statements can be directly connected to investor losses. It’s more difficult to prove that than it seems. However, plaintiffs have something to work with thanks to the 45% stock drop, the drone footage, and the fifteen mining experts who were quoted as saying the project was economically dubious. It remains to be seen if it is sufficient.