Coal asset owner Ramaco Resources Inc. on Jan. 23 commenced an IPO of 6 million common shares at a price between $12 and $15 each, according to a company statement.

Of the total, the Kentucky-based mining operator is selling 3.8 million shares and the selling stockholders named in the registration statement are offering the remaining 2.2 million shares. The selling stockholders are also offering a 30-day option for underwriters to purchase up to an additional 900,000 common shares, according to an amended Form S-1 filing. The shares will be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol METC.

Ramaco plans to use about $10.7 million in sale proceeds to pay in full a four-year promissory note due to Ramaco LLC. It intends to use the remaining proceeds for the development and expansion of its Knox Creek and Elk Creek coal mines and to fund the acquisition of coal mines that are in close proximity to its current projects.

While Ramaco is still making final investment decisions for the projects, it may invest net proceeds in the U.S. government securities and other short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments or high-grade corporate notes.

The company was rumored to go public in 2017 and has been busy buying assets from companies like Alpha Natural Resources Inc. and investing in infrastructure in Appalachia. The company describes itself as a developer of "high-quality, low-cost" metallurgical coal in central and southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania.

Ramaco, which achieved initial commercial production of metallurgical coal in December 2016, expects to produce 1.1 million clean tons of metallurgical coal in 2017, 2.8 million tons in 2018 and 4.4 million tons in 2022, according to the filing.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Jefferies LLC and BMO Capital Markets Corp. are serving as lead joint book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters of the IPO. Clarksons Platou Securities Inc. and Seaport Global Securities LLC are also acting as joint book-running managers.