Frontieras North America and Western Fuels Sign MOU to Develop Mine-Mouth FASForm™ Facility at Wyoming's Dry Fork Mine

Frontieras North America, Inc., the Houston-based energy and technology company commercializing its patented FASForm™ Solid Carbon Fractionation technology, and Western Fuels — comprising Western Fuels-Wyoming, Inc., owner and operator of the Dry Fork Mine, and Western Fuels Association, Inc., a not-for-profit fuel supply cooperative — has announced entry into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Under the MOU, the companies intend to jointly develop a mine-mouth FASForm™ processing facility at the Dry Fork Mine near Gillette, in Campbell County, Wyoming.

The MOU establishes a framework for the parties to negotiate long-term definitive agreements covering a ground lease for a facility site at or adjacent to the Dry Fork Mine; a coal feedstock supply agreement for Wyoming sub-bituminous coal, contemplated at up to approximately 2.7 million tons per year initially and up to approximately 5.4 million tons per year at full build-out; a diesel offtake agreement under which Western Fuels would purchase ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) produced at the facility for its mining, haul, and member operations; and a logistics arrangement that could engage Western Fuels Association's rail and transportation capabilities to move FASForm's™ product streams. The agreements contemplated by the MOU are each expected to carry an initial 30-year term.

Wyoming holds a central place in Frontieras' long-term strategy. As the nation's largest coal-producing state, it is the anchor for the company's plan to scale FASForm™ technology across the West — both through standalone mine-mouth facilities and through FASGEN™, Frontieras' co-location platform that integrates FASForm™ units directly into existing coal-fired power plants. The Dry Fork Mine sits within the Gillette mine-mouth generation cluster, where more than 1,200 megawatts of coal-fired capacity operate within a few miles of the resource. A facility at Dry Fork Mine would place Frontieras at the logistical center of one of the densest coal-power corridors in the country, positioning the company to extend its co-location strategy to the coal-fired utilities that power the region — and a fast-growing share of the nation's data-center and industrial demand.

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 Seaborne Thermal Coal Trade Expected to Ease Through 2028

Seaborne thermal coal traded within a relatively tight range for almost a decade—roughly 940 million to 1,095 million tonnes annually, with no clear direction either way. That period may now be ending.

DBX’s latest Long-Term Coal Monitor forecasts seaborne thermal coal trade declining from 1,027 million tonnes in 2026 to 1,001 million tonnes in 2027 and 954 million tonnes in 2028. Indonesia’s tightening domestic market obligation rules are squeezing exportable tonnage just as the import requirements of China and India ease amid ample, inexpensive domestic supply.

Metallurgical coal presents a different picture. The headline figure remains almost unchanged—moving from 391 million tonnes to 393 million tonnes and then 389 million tonnes through 2028—but this stability conceals a structural shift.

Mongolia’s projected exports increased from approximately 60 million tonnes to 85 million tonnes in a single monthly model revision as Chinese steelmakers increasingly favour coal transported overland by rail instead of seaborne cargoes.

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The Electricity Demand Story Everyone Is Missing

The world is using more electricity than ever. Global power demand reached a record high in 2025, growing at more than twice the rate of overall energy demand.

But the single largest driver of that growth isn’t artificial intelligence, data centers or electric vehicles. It’s air conditioning.

Speaking at an oil and gas conference in Stavanger, Norway, this week, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol called air conditioning “the single most important driver” of global electricity consumption growth.

As incomes rise across the developing world, hundreds of millions of people are gaining access to cooling. Since 2015, global electricity consumption for air conditioning has increased by 50%—an increase equal to the total annual electricity consumption of the entire European Union.

And the cooling boom is just getting started.

Annual air-conditioner shipments are 25% higher than they were five years ago, driven largely by growth in emerging and developing economies. Yet only about 40% of the global population has access to air conditioning, even though more than 80% experiences temperatures requiring cooling during at least part of the year.

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