DOE seeks unconventional critical minerals

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $156 million in funding for a first-of-a-kind facility to extract and separate rare earth elements and critical minerals from unconventional sources like mining waste.

As rare earths and other critical minerals are key to manufacturing clean energy technologies here in America – such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells – industries from all ends of the supply chain have been seeking to fulfill the extreme demand for these materials essential to low-carbon technologies.

"President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides America with a historic opportunity to turn legacy waste into the components of clean energy technology in a way that bolsters domestic supply chains and enhances our national security," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. "The demand for clean energy technology continues to grow at a rapid pace and an American-made critical minerals refinery will help generate jobs and increase our competitiveness on the global stage."

The United States currently imports more than 80% of its rare earth elements from other countries. These materials are necessary to produce the smartphones, computers, and other things we rely on every day; medical devices that keep us in good health; and the equipment the U.S. military needs to protect our borders and very way of life.

With Russia's war on Ukraine and strained relations with China, it has become even more apparent that if any of these resources are cut off, we would have no way to acquire them beyond attempting to purchase the limited supplies of them from allied countries.

This has Washington, DC creating new technologies and industries to develop these resources at home – including the abundance of critical minerals-enriched waste from mining, coal-fired power plants, and other industries.

You can read an in-depth breakdown of some of the possible solutions the United States can take to supplement critical minerals at Outside-the-box critical mineral sources in the 2022 edition of the Critical Minerals Alliances magazine.

Across the country, there are billions of tons of coal waste and ash, acid mine drainage and discharge water that are just waiting to not only be cleaned up but reexamined for the previously uneconomical volumes of rare earths often contained within these industrial byproducts.

To tackle this, DOE is seeking applications from U.S. academic institutions for a front-end engineering design study followed by the design, construction, and operation of this first-of-a-kind domestic demonstration facility to extract, separate, produce and refine rare earth elements and other critical minerals from the nation's waste streams.

Throughout the life of the project, the selected applicant must engage in community outreach and consultations with historically disadvantaged communities, prioritize environmental justice when identifying project site locations, and maximize local workforce development opportunities for the operation of the demonstration facility.

Furthermore, applicants are encouraged to review DOE's commitment to the Justice40 Initiative, which states that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments will flow to said disadvantaged communities and that projects will have minimal negative impacts on communities with environmental protection concerns.

All applicants must register and submit application materials through FedConnect. The deadline is November 21 at 8 p.m. ET.