This sound is generated automatically. Please let us know if you have any feedback.
Diving summary:
- According to a Dec. 1 press release, the U.S. Department of Energy is making $134 million available for projects that demonstrate the commercial viability of recycling and refining rare earths from mine tailings, discarded electronics and other waste materials.
- The department released the funding opportunity announcement as another step in the Trump administration’s effort to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources for critical minerals essential to military and domestic industries.
- “We have these resources right here at home, but years of complacency have ceded America’s mining and industrial base to other countries,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Diving Insights:
Tracking the supply chain of critical minerals and rare earths has been a priority for several presidential administrations. In August, the current Energy Department announced plans to provide nearly $1 billion to advance and expand mining, processing and production technologies for critical minerals supply chains.
Later that month, the agency made $60 million available for two additional programs: one to support technologies that shorten the time it takes to evaluate ore deposits, and another to boost the use of artificial intelligence and experiments in creating new types of rare-earth magnets.
The funding initiatives stem from an executive order by President Donald Trump in January directing the Department of Energy to ensure federal support for critical mining projects.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy’s latest funding announcement is under the Rare Earth Demonstration Facility Program in the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation. The department designed the program to demonstrate full-scale extraction and separation facilities in the United States for rare earths, such as praseodymium, neodymium, terbium, and dysprosium.
Rare earths, a special vital mineral group of metals, are critical components in advanced manufacturing, defense systems, and high-performance magnets used in power generation and electric motors. The U.S. Geological Survey recently released its 2025 final list of 60 critical minerals that are critical to the U.S. economy and national security and are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. The list added 10 more minerals, including copper, lead and silicon.
About the Author
