About Ramaco Resources

Ramaco Resources, Inc. operates and develops metallurgical coal in southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and southwestern Pennsylvania. The company is a pure play metallurgical coal company with 62 million reserve tons and 1,156 million measured and indicated resource tons of high-quality metallurgical coal. The company’s development portfolio primarily includes the following properties: Elk Creek, Berwind, Knox Creek and RAM Mine. Each of these properties possesses geologic and logistical advantages that make the company’s coal among the lowest delivered-cost U.S. metallurgical coal to its domestic target customer base, North American blast furnace steel mills and coke plants, as well as international metallurgical coal consumers. In addition, the company completed acquisitions of Ramaco Coal and Maben Coal in the second and third quarter of 2022, respectively. With the Ramaco Coal acquisition, the company controls mineral deposits near Sheridan, Wyoming along with facilities that house research and development activities. With the Maben Coal acquisition, the company has obtained control of additional coal deposits in Wyoming County and Raleigh County, West Virginia. The company’s operations include six active mines at its Elk Creek mining complex (the Elk Creek Complex). Development of this complex commenced in 2016 and included construction of a preparation plant and rail load-out facilities. The Elk Creek property consists of approximately 20,200 acres of controlled mineral rights and contains approximately 16 seams that the company has targeted for production. The company commenced expansion of the Elk Creek preparation plant during 2022 to increase production in future periods. The company successfully reached the thicker Pocahontas No. 4 seam in late 2021. The Berwind property consists of approximately 62,500 acres of controlled mineral rights, including the December 2021 acquisition of Amonate Assets from subsidiaries of Coronado Global Resources Inc. (Coronado). The Amonate Assets include a processing plant located in the company’s Berwind Complex, saving it transportation costs to its Knox Creek plant 26 miles away. The Berwind Complex experienced an ignition event during 2022 that resulted in idling mining operations for one of the active mines. Production restarted for the idle mine in the first quarter of 2023. The company’s Knox Creek facility includes a preparation plant and 74,400 acres of controlled mineral rights that it expects to develop in the future. The Knox Creek preparation plant processes coal from the company’s Berwind Complex (until the newly acquired plant at the Berwind Complex is fully up and running), as well as coal mined from the rights acquired in the Maben Coal transaction, discussed below, and coal purchased from third parties. The company’s RAM Mine property is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, consists of approximately 1,567 acres of controlled mineral rights, and is scheduled for initial production after a mining permit is issued and market conditions warrant development. The Ramaco Coal acquisition in 2022 provides the Company with 16,000 acres of controlled mineral rights. The Maben Coal acquisition in 2022 provides the company with 28,000 leased acres of controlled mineral rights. Strategy The key elements of the company’s strategy include developing and operating its metallurgical coal properties; enhancing coal purchase opportunities; demonstrating excellence in safety and environmental stewardship; and advancing its initiatives in rare earth elements and advanced carbon products. Projects The company’s properties are primarily located in southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania, and northeastern Wyoming. Elk Creek Mining Complex The company’s Elk Creek Complex in southern West Virginia began production in 2016. The Elk Creek property consists of approximately 20,200 acres of controlled mineral and contains 16 seams. The company controls the majority of the coal and related mining rights within the existing permitted areas and its current mine plans, as well as the surface for its surface facilities, through lease agreements with McDonald Land Company. The company estimates that the Elk Creek Complex contains reserves capable of yielding approximately 30 million tons of clean saleable metallurgical coal, as well as measured and indicated metallurgical coal resource tons of 215 million. The company markets most of the coal produced from the Elk Creek Complex as a blended high-volatile A/B product. The company’s market for Elk Creek production is principally North American coke and steel producers. The company also markets its coal to European, South American, Asian and African customers, and occasionally to coal traders and brokers for use in filling orders for their blended products. The company processes its Elk Creek coal production through a 700 raw ton-per-hour preparation plant. The plant has a large-diameter (48 inches) heavy-media cyclone, dual-stage spiral concentrators, froth flotation, horizontal vibratory and screen bowl centrifuges. The company’s rail load-out facilities at Elk Creek are capable of loading 4,000 tons per hour and a full 150-car unit train in under four hours. The load-out facility is served by the CSX railroad. The company also has the ability to develop on controlled property a rail-loading facility on the Norfolk Southern railroad, which would facilitate dual rail service. On January 3, 2020, the company entered into a mineral lease with the McDonald Land Company for coal reserves which, in many cases, are located immediately adjacent to its Elk Creek Complex. This leased property became available after the former base lease with another party was terminated. During 2022, the company began work on a throughput upgrade at its Elk Creek Preparation plant. Berwind Mining Complex The company’s Berwind Complex is located on the border of West Virginia and Virginia and is well-positioned to fill the anticipated market for low-volatile coals. The Berwind property consists of approximately 62,500 acres of controlled mineral rights, including the Amonate acquisition. In December 2021, the company acquired the Amonate Assets from Coronado, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement. The acquisition included a mine complex located in McDowell County, West Virginia and Tazewell County, Virginia adjacent and contiguous to the company’s existing Berwind Complex. The assets primarily consist of high quality, low and mid-volatile metallurgical coal reserves and resources, much of which will be mined from the company’s Berwind Complex. Also purchased were several additional permitted mines and an idled 1.3 million ton per annum capacity coal preparation plant with a rail loading facility. Knox Creek Mining Complex The Knox Creek Complex consists of approximately 74,400 acres of controlled mineral, a 750 tons per hour preparation plant and a coal-loading facility along with a refuse impoundment. Rail service is provided by Norfolk Southern. In August 2021, the company began production at this new surface mine known as the Big Creek mine. The company added a highwall miner in the fourth quarter of 2021. RAM Mine The company’s RAM Mine property is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, consists of approximately 1,567 acres of controlled mineral. Production of high-vol coal from the Pittsburgh seam is planned from a single continuous-miner room-and-pillar underground operation. The Pittsburgh seam, in close proximity to Pittsburgh area coke plants, has historically been a key feedstock for these coke plants. Operation of the company’s RAM Mine coal reserve may require access to a newly constructed preparation plant and loading facility, third party processing, or direct shipment of raw coal product. Maben The Maben property is located in southern West Virginia and consists of approximately 28,000 acres of controlled mineral rights acquired from the purchase of Maben Coal in the third quarter of 2022. As part of the transaction, the company assumed existing mining permits issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, which authorize mining by both surface and highwall mining methods, as well as by underground methods. The property also has issued permits covering an existing haul road, as well as an active refuse disposal area together with a preparation plant and unit train loadout, neither of which had been constructed as of the closing date. The Maben property contains various areas of high-quality low-vol metallurgical coal in the Sewell, Pocahontas 3, Pocahontas 4, and Pocahontas 6 seams of coal. Brook Mine The property is located in northeastern Wyoming, near Sheridan, and consists of approximately 16,000 acres of controlled mineral rights and a research and development facility that were acquired as part of the purchase of Ramaco Coal in the second quarter of 2022. The property includes a thermal coal deposit and permit, as well as occurrences of rare earth elements. The mine is currently undergoing mineral analysis and core drilling assessment to assess the potential concentrations of rare earth elements. This property is being used to support the company’s possible expansion into the manufacture and commercialization of advanced carbon products and materials from coal. The company refers to this potentially new business line as CORE (Carbon Ore-Rare Earth), signifying its focus on carbon ore and rare earth elements. Customers and Contracts The company markets the bulk of its production to North American integrated steel mills and coke plants, as well as international customers primarily in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. Additionally, the company markets limited amounts of its production to various premium-priced specialty markets, such as foundry cokemakers, manufacturers of activated carbon products, and specialty metals producers. Trade Names, Trademarks and Patents In connection with CORE, the company holds 53 intellectual property patents and pending patents related to the conversion of carbon ore into higher value carbon products as well as exclusive licensing agreements, all of which have a remaining duration of 15-20 years. Competition The company’s principal domestic competitors include Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc., Blackhawk Mining, LLC, Coronado Global Resources Inc., Arch Resources, Inc., Peabody Energy Corporation and Warrior Met Coal, Inc. Environmental, Health and Safety and Other Regulatory Matters The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (the SMCRA) establishes comprehensive operational, reclamation and closure standards for the company’s mining operations and requires that such standards be met during the course of and following completion of mining activities. The SMCRA also stipulates compliance with many other major environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act (the CAA), the Clean Water Act (the CWA), the Endangered Species Act (the ESA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (the RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (the CERCLA). The company’s operations are located in West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, which have achieved primary jurisdiction for enforcement of SMCRA through approved state programs. In addition, the company obtained from a third-party insurer a workers’ compensation insurance policy, which includes coverage for medical and disability benefits for occupational disease under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and the Mine Act. The company is required to comply with numerous other federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations in addition to those previously discussed. These additional laws include but are not limited to the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. History Ramaco Resources, Inc. was founded in 2015. The company, a Delaware corporation, was incorporated in 2016.