Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Sunday, July 20th.

Today on Forbes, why Ramiko says it can beat its government-backed rival for Rare Earth Supremacy.

Ramico resources broke ground last month on a new coal mine in Sheridan, Wyoming, the first one in the state in 50 years.

By early July, Ramiko had excavated 100 feet down, exposing a 20-foot-wide coal seam, and was holding an official ribbon cutting,

with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and retired West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin in attendance.

But despite their shared enthusiasm for fossil fuels,

it was an old-fashioned electricity-generating coal that attracted those big shots to the

Brook Mine. Remicoe Chairman and CEO Randall Atkins expects the 2.5 million tons of coal

he plans to extract over the next 12 months, will contain within it

some of the world's most sought-after rare earth elements and other critical minerals.

Specifically, deprosium, neodymium, scandium, and gallium. Vital stuff for making powerful magnets,

semiconductors, night vision goggles, hypersonic missiles, and much more.

Atkins, a 69-year-old lawyer and Ramico founder, whose resume includes stints in private equity,

investment banking, and real estate development, declares, quote,

critical minerals and rare earths are to this century what oil was to the 20th century.

Publicly traded Ramico is up 80% year to date to a $1 billion market cap on $11 million

in earnings and $670 million in sales. The company says that once its pilot processing

plant is completed, as early as late

2006, it will be able to meet more than 10% of America's 10,000 tons per year of total

rare earth's demand, nearly all of which is currently sourced from China.

The Trump administration is leaning heavily into domestic production of rare earths.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that it would invest $400 million into Ramico's

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