RAMACO RESOURCES REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL-YEAR 2025 RESULTS
RAMACO RESOURCES REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL-YEAR 2025 RESULTS |
| [25-February-2026] |
LEXINGTON, Ky., Feb. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ramaco Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: METC, METCB, "Ramaco" or the "Company") is a leading operator and developer of high-quality, low-cost metallurgical coal in Central Appalachia and is transitioning to also become a developer of rare earth and critical minerals in Wyoming. Today it reported financial results for the three and twelve month periods ending December 31, 2025 (the "Results"). FOURTH QUARTER 2025 HIGHLIGHTS
FULL-YEAR 2025 HIGHLIGHTS
MARKET COMMENTARY / 2026 OUTLOOK Rare Earths and Critical Minerals:
Metallurgical Coal Sales, Marketing and Growth Projects:
Metallurgical Coal Guidance:
MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY Randall Atkins, Ramaco Resources' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, "Given the exceptional job by our operations team in terms of maintaining cost control at our core metallurgical coal complexes in 2025, I will start my comments on the coal front. Although we share our shareholder interest in the on-going Brook Mine critical mineral development in Wyoming, we have not lost sight that our fundamental core business today is the operation of our metallurgical coal complexes in Appalachia. Overall cash costs of $92 per ton this past quarter were the lowest we have achieved since the fourth quarter of 2021. Indeed, at our largest complex at Elk Creek, fourth quarter costs averaged just $80 per ton. We would also note that in this difficult market environment, unlike some others, we have not cut either wages or benefits to our mine workers. We regard Ramaco as a best-in-class employer, that continues to attract the top talent in the industry, and which also led to very strong productivity last quarter. Furthermore, our fourth quarter cash margins of $24 per ton were tied with our first quarter cash margins as the strongest of 2025. This was despite a 17% decline in U.S. high-vol metallurgical coal indices during that period. As we look ahead, we have initiated our 2026 met coal guidance. We are poised to both grow our total coal production for the 6th year in a row, while lowering overall cash costs per ton sold for the 3rd year in a row. Based on our current 2026 guidance, if benchmark price indices hold at current levels or improve, we expect meaningful earnings growth overall in 2026 versus 2025. World metallurgical coal markets have begun to see a meaningful and we hope sustained rebound. This appears in index pricing on the back of both Australian supply constraints and stronger Indian demand. Australian premium low-vol indices have increased to roughly $240 per ton and by more than $40 per ton from the fourth quarter average. US low-vol and high-vol indices are also up as much as 10% on average today compared to the fourth quarter average. As a result, we are either accelerating or initiating some of our low-vol growth projects which we had deferred until we began to see some positive market clarity. These low-vol projects are expected to add 0.5 million tons of production in 2027. We anticipate they will add 0.1-0.2 million tons in 2026. They also set the table should we decide to pursue further low-vol development in the future. We are focusing on low-vol production growth in the face of a crowded field of new high-vol projects from our peers who are now fiercely competing in the export markets. This has created current pricing pressure on high-vol coals with indices today lagging well below historical relativities. Despite this market overcrowding, we have been able to secure recent sales in Asia at meaningful premiums to these indices because of the low sulfur character of our high-vol coals. It is our expectation given market conditions that published high-vol index pricing will ultimately adjust accordingly, which should lead to an upward movement in these indices. Our coal sales for the year have again started off strong. We have sales commitments for 2026 currently totaling 3.1 million tons as of the date of these Results. These sales equate to almost 80% of the midpoint of the 2026 production guidance of 3.9 million tons. 1.1 million tons are committed to North American customers at an average realized fixed price of $142 per ton which is currently the highest level of our peer published results. In addition, 2.0 million export tons are committed to seaborne customers at index-linked pricing. We expect ultimate annual sales volumes between 4.1 and 4.5 million tons, with an ability to increase sales to almost 5 million tons, depending on market conditions. Moving to our emerging rare earth elements and critical minerals business in Wyoming, we are announcing a fundamental technology breakthrough for processing the minerals found comingled in coal. This is a new proprietary carbochlorination flowsheet that our internal critical mineral team developed by building upon the research and discoveries from the Fluor Corporation's Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA"). In simplistic terms, the results of current testing show that this approach should yield meaningful benefits to the Brook Mine's cash flows compared to the already strong projected cash flows in both Fluor's PEA and in the upsized development case from my last Shareholder Letter. Basically, we now expect markedly increased recoveries and yields of an overall higher value slate of basket oxide production. From this technique we also expect substantially increased production levels of high-purity gallium, high purity alumina, as well as high purity quartz. All of these products target the semi-conductor industries. The gallium and related products will constitute the largest portion of our overall projected revenue. Although we still expect to produce high levels of scandium, that critical mineral will not dominate the overall product slate in the same manner as in our original flowsheet design. We also now expect to sell our magnetic rare earth feedstock production as a mixed rare earth carbonate. This approach substantially simplifies the flowsheet. It is expected to reduce both the significant initial capital outlays as well as the on-going operating reagent expense associated with the solvent extraction separation processing technique for rare earth separation. Internal financial estimates indicate that these modifications, together with the current higher critical mineral pricing environment, are expected to materially increase cash flow generation estimates from our previously published figures. We are now working with our independent consultant Hatch to validate these estimates and expect to publish a revised PEA utilizing this new flowsheet and new economics by mid-year. These new flowsheet modifications will modestly increase the timeline for completion of our Preliminary Feasibility Study ("PFS"). We believe however that these changes will both ultimately and substantially improve the overall project and best serve the joint interests of both our shareholders and indeed the country. Importantly, we have now developed and filed patent and trade secret protections around a robust portfolio of intellectual property associated with this novel process. This should ensure that the Brook Mine will be the only coal based unconventional source of domestic REEs and critical minerals that will be able to utilize our new process. On the market front, the Trump administration recently announced an initiative to establish international price floors for critical minerals to counter China's market dominance. We remain confident that the U.S. government is committed to ensuring the development of a supply chain for domestic rare earth elements and critical minerals. We continue to pursue potential procurement, funding and development opportunities with strategic and governmental stakeholders. We were also recently gratified to note the Administration's discussion about the creation of domestic rare earth and critical mineral stockpiles for overall supply chain management and procurement. This initiative dovetails with our previously announced critical mineral stockpile and terminal initiative at the Brook Mine which we are pursuing with Goldman Sachs. Lastly, I want to touch upon the financial transformation of the liquidity levels on our balance sheet that we achieved in the second half of 2025. In total we raised over $1 billion in new capital. First, in July/August we raised $65 million in gross proceeds through the public issuance of unsecured notes led by Lucid Capital. Second, in August we raised $200 million in new equity through an underwriting led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Third, in November working again with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and a larger underwriting syndicate we raised $345 million in 6-year unsecured convertible notes with a zero percent coupon. Then in December we increased our revolving credit facility led by KeyBank to $500 million, inclusive of a $150 million accordion feature. Our balance sheet is now in the strongest position in our history, in spite of the challenging state of the metallurgical coal markets. We ended the fourth quarter with record liquidity of $521 million, which was up more than 275% year over year. This will allow us to rapidly move forward with our transition into a dual platform critical minerals company. On the other side of this journey, we hope to realize substantial growth and shareholder opportunities as a dual platform critical minerals enterprise. We will do so by producing both larger levels of high-quality low-cost metallurgical coal, as well as hopefully becoming one of the nation's leading vertically integrated rare earth and critical mineral companies. We look forward to 2026 moving us further along this unique path." Key operational and financial metrics are presented below (unaudited):
FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL-YEAR 2025 PERFORMANCE In the following paragraphs, all references to "quarterly" periods or to "the quarter" refer to the fourth quarter of 2025, unless specified otherwise. Quarterly Year 2025 over 2024 Year Comparison Quarterly overall production in the fourth quarter of 2025 of 892,000 tons was down 7% from the same period of 2024. The Elk Creek complex produced 697,000 tons, up 4% from last year. The Berwind, Knox Creek, and Maben complexes had production of 195,000 tons in the quarter, which was down 31% from the same period last year. The decline was largely due to the previously announced idling of some higher cost metallurgical coal production in light of continued weak market conditions. U.S. high-vol metallurgical coal indices fell almost 20% versus the fourth quarter of 2024. As a result, quarterly pricing was $116 per ton, or 10% lower compared to $129 per ton in the fourth quarter of 2024. Cash costs were $92 per ton sold, excluding transportation costs and idle mine costs, which was a 4%, or $4 per ton decrease from the same period in 2024. As a result of the above, cash margins were $24 per ton during the fourth quarter, down from $33 per ton or 27% from the same period of 2024. This was based on non-GAAP revenue (FOB mine) and non-GAAP cash cost of sales (FOB mine). Quarterly 2025 Sequential Comparison Fourth quarter of 2025 production was 892,000 tons, down 6% from the third quarter of 2025. The decrease was due to continued production discipline in the current challenging market environment, coupled with an extra week of vacation in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. Realized quarterly pricing of $116 per ton was down 3% from $120 per ton in the third quarter of 2025. This reflected the sequential decline in U.S. high-vol metallurgical indices, which fell roughly 4%, versus the third quarter. Quarterly cash costs of $92 per ton were down $5 per ton or 5% compared to $97 per ton in the third quarter of 2025. Quarterly cash margins were $24 per ton, increasing from $23 per ton sequentially, mainly due to the decreased cash cost per ton. These figures are based on non-GAAP revenue (FOB mine) and non-GAAP cash cost of sales (FOB mine). BALANCE SHEET AND LIQUIDITY As of December 31, 2025, the Company had liquidity of $521.0 million, consisting of approximately $440.3 million of cash plus $80.7 million of availability under our revolving credit facility. Liquidity was up over 275% compared to the same period of 2024 and was the strongest quarter-end liquidity on record for the Company. During the fourth quarter, the Company issued $345 million of zero coupon unsecured convertible debt with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. As of December 31, 2025, net debt stood at approximately $11 million versus net debt of $56 million on December 31, 2024. Quarterly capital expenditures totaled $12.2 million, down 27% compared to $16.6 million the third quarter of 2025. This compared to $11.9 million for the same period of 2024. For the fourth quarter of 2025, the Company recognized income tax benefit of $1.1 million, which was an approximate 6.8% effective tax benefit rate. The following summarizes key sales, production and financial metrics for the periods noted (unaudited):
Class B Dividend Our Board of Directors (the "Board") has declared a stock dividend for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 relating to its Class B common shares to shareholders of record as of the close of Nasdaq on March 13, 2026 (the "Record Date"). The dividends will be paid in Class B common stock and issued on March 27, 2026 (the "Payment Date"). The Board approved and declared the quarterly Class B common stock dividend of $0.1489 per share on the Company's Class B common stock. Given that this payment will occur in the form of Class B shares, Class B holders will receive a number of shares of Class B common stock for each share of Class B common stock determined by dividing $0.1489 by the closing transaction price of the Class B common stock on March 13, 2026. No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the above-described stock dividend. In lieu of the issuance of fractional shares, the Company will pay in cash on the Payment Date the fair value of the fractions of a share issuable, determined as of the close of Nasdaq on the Record Date and based upon the closing transaction price per share of the Class B common stock reported by Nasdaq on that date. FINANCIAL GUIDANCE
Committed 2026 Sales Volume(a)
ABOUT RAMACO RESOURCES Ramaco Resources, Inc. is an operator and developer of high-quality, low-cost metallurgical coal in southern West Virginia, and southwestern Virginia and a developing producer of coal, rare earth and critical minerals in Wyoming. Its executive offices are in Lexington, Kentucky, with operational offices in Charleston, West Virginia and Sheridan, Wyoming. The Company currently has four active metallurgical coal mining complexes in Central Appalachia and one coal mine and rare earth development near Sheridan, Wyoming in the initial stages of production. In 2023, the Company announced that a major deposit of primary magnetic rare earths and critical minerals was discovered at its mine near Sheridan, Wyoming. Contiguous to the Wyoming mine, the Company operates a carbon research related to the production of advanced carbon products and materials from coal. In connection with these activities, it holds a body of more than 70 intellectual property patents, pending applications, exclusive licensing agreements and various trademarks. News and additional information about Ramaco Resources, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are available at http://www.ramacoresources.com. For more information, contact investor relations at (859) 244-7455. FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL-YEAR 2025 CONFERENCE CALL Ramaco Resources will hold its quarterly conference call and webcast at 9:00 AM Eastern Time (ET) on Thursday, February 26, 2026. An accompanying slide deck will be available at https://www.ramacoresources.com/investors/investor-presentations/ immediately before the conference call. To participate in the live teleconference on February 26, 2026: Domestic Live: (833) 890-6680 CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent Ramaco Resources' expectations or beliefs concerning guidance, future events, anticipated revenue, future demand and production levels, macroeconomic trends, the development of ongoing projects, costs and expectations regarding operating results, and it is possible that the results described in this news release will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Ramaco Resources' control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, without limitation, unexpected delays in our current mine development activities, the ability to successfully increase production at our existing met coal complexes in accordance with the Company's growth initiatives, failure of our sales commitment counterparties to perform, increased government regulation of coal in the United States or internationally, the impact of tariffs imposed by the United States and foreign governments, the further decline of demand for coal in export markets and underperformance of the railroads, the Company's ability to successfully develop the Brook Mine rare earth and critical mineral project, including whether the Company's exploration target and estimates for such mine are realized, the timing of the initial production of rare earth concentrates, the development of a pilot and ultimately a full scale commercial processing facility. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not meet the threshold for reserve modifying factors, such as estimated economic viability, that would allow for conversion to mineral reserves. There is no certainty that any part of the estimated mineral resources at Brook Mine will be converted into mineral reserves in the future. Rare earth and critical minerals is a new initiative for us and, as such, has required and will continue to require us to make significant investments to build out our rare earth capabilities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, Ramaco Resources does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Ramaco Resources to predict all such factors. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements found in Ramaco Resources' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The risk factors and other factors noted in Ramaco Resources' SEC filings could cause its actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures (Unaudited) Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental non-GAAP financial measure by management and external users of our financial statements, such as industry analysts, investors, lenders, and rating agencies. We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful because it allows us to evaluate our operating performance more effectively. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income plus net interest expense; equity-based compensation; depreciation, depletion, and amortization expenses; income taxes; accretion of asset retirement obligations; and, when applicable, certain other non-operating and expense items that are non-recurring and not related to the underlying business performance. Its most comparable GAAP measure is net income. A reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBITDA is included below. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to serve as a substitute for GAAP measures of performance and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.
Non-GAAP revenue and cash cost per ton Non-GAAP revenue per ton (FOB mine) is calculated as coal sales revenue less transportation costs including demurrage costs, divided by tons sold. Non-GAAP cash cost per ton sold (FOB mine) is calculated as cash cost of coal sales less transportation costs and idle and other costs, divided by tons sold. We believe revenue per ton (FOB mine) and cash cost per ton (FOB mine) provide useful information to investors as these enable investors to compare revenue per ton and cash cost per ton for the Company against similar measures made by other publicly-traded coal companies and more effectively monitor changes in coal prices and costs from period to period excluding the impact of transportation costs, which are beyond our control. The adjustments made to arrive at these measures are significant in understanding and assessing the Company's financial performance. Revenue per ton sold (FOB mine) and cash cost per ton sold (FOB mine) are not measures of financial performance in accordance with GAAP and therefore should not be considered as a substitute for revenue and cost of sales under GAAP. The tables below show how we calculate non-GAAP revenue and cash cost per ton: Non-GAAP revenue per ton (unaudited)
Non-GAAP cash cost per ton (unaudited)
We do not provide reconciliations of our outlook for cash cost per ton to cost of sales in reliance on the unreasonable efforts exception provided for under Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B) of Regulation S-K. We are unable, without unreasonable efforts, to forecast certain items required to develop the meaningful comparable GAAP cost of sales. These items typically include non-cash asset retirement obligation accretion expenses, mine idling expenses and other non-recurring indirect mining expenses that are difficult to predict in advance in order to include a GAAP estimate.
SOURCE Ramaco Resources, Inc. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Company Codes: NASDAQ-NMS:METC,NASDAQ-NMS:METCB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||












