The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - January 8, 2025
DOE's CORE-CM initiative is focused on realizing the full potential for carbon ores and critical minerals within the U.S.
To help break America's reliance on imports for many of the minerals critical to the nation's economy and security, the U.S. Department of Energy is investing $45 million into six regional projects from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to the Appalachian Mountain region near the Atlantic coast.
"Rebuilding a domestic supply chain for critical minerals and materials here at home will both safeguard our national security and support the continued development of a clean energy and industrial economy," said Brad Crabtree, assistant secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM).
Building upon the work of DOE's Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative, the projects supported by the funding will focus largely on the potential to extract value from unconventional feedstocks, such as coal and coal by-products, wastewater from oil and gas development, and acid mine drainage.
While previous CORE-CM work focused on unlocking the critical mineral potential within individual coal basins across the U.S., the latest round of DOE funding expands the research into unconventional sources of minerals critical to the U.S. economy, clean energy ambitions and national security to the regional scale.
"DOE is investing in collaborative regional projects to help us realize our nation's full potential for recovery of these vital resources, while creating high-wage jobs and delivering environmental benefits for communities across the United States," Crabtree added.
CORE-CM regions map.
The six CORE-CM regions being explored by the expanded program are: Alaska and the Pacific Northwest (Region 8); Upper Midwest and Illinois Basin (Region 3); Gulf Coast and Permian Basin (Region 5); Rocky Mountains (Region 6); Great Plains and Interior Highlands (Region 4); and Appalachian Mountains (Region 2).
DOE is investing $7.5 million in each of the regional projects, which is being supplemented by funding from outside of the department. Here is a breakdown of the projects selected for the first round of CORE-CM regional-scale funding.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) received a total of $9.4 million in DOE and non-DOE funding to carry out regional-scale critical minerals assessments across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
UAF plans to work with the state geological surveys from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, along with support from universities and other partners, to carry out geologic and mineral systems mapping, collect samples, and analyze the new data. The goal of this regional assessment is to gain a better understanding of the geologic framework and critical minerals distribution in the CORE-CM Northwest region, which covers roughly 22% of the United States and is underexplored for its critical mineral potential.
The first objective of the CORE-CM Region 8 project is to assess, identify, and prioritize sites for detailed investigation based on resource potential, feasibility, and strategic importance. This regional assessment will support DOE's efforts to develop a nationwide critical mineral and materials prospectus.
The second objective is to engage communities in the work and educate an early-career workforce for the growing critical minerals industry. This will involve building a strong consortium of partners across the three states and with neighboring areas to support critical minerals and materials resource development.
With $9.4 million in total investments, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is leading a study to assess critical minerals associated with coal and other unconventional sources in CORE-CM Region 3.
UIUC, which is carrying out this assessment through the Illinois State Geological Survey, plans to work with the geological surveys of Michigan, Kentucky, Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio; major universities in Illinois, North Dakota, and Kentucky; DOE's national laboratories; and companies active in the critical minerals, energy, and environmental spaces to build understanding and the economic case for the development of critical minerals and materials from coal and coal wastes in the Upper Midwest.
The UIUC-led project of CORE-CM Region 3 includes a characterization campaign focused on understanding the potential for critical minerals in secondary sources such as brine groundwaters and metalliferous shales (sedimentary rocks enriched with organic carbon and high levels of a wide range of metals) alongside unconventional sources such as coal mine wastes and coal ash.
Utilizing previous research, as well as carrying out extensive sampling across the region, UIUC will prepare quantitative estimates of critical minerals and coal for those sources.
The Upper Midwest and Illinois Basin study will also include infrastructure studies and social development initiatives.
Also receiving $9.4 million in total funding, the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) plans to catalyze economic growth and job creation by identifying unconventional critical mineral resource potential in the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin areas.
The UT Austin-led project will characterize and assess critical mineral and material resource potential in:
Petroleum industry waste, including produced water, as well as subsurface brines known to host lithium and other critical minerals.
• Coal (primarily lignite), as well as coal ash and other coal mine-related waste.
• Processing waste from non-coal mining operations, such as "red mud" from the processing of bauxite to produce aluminum.
• Other unconventional sources, such as sedimentary rocks, drill cuttings, and other subsurface rock material with critical mineral and material potential.
Additional objectives of the initial phase of the CORE-CM Region 5 program include linking these mineral resources to the manufacturing of valuable products to enhance economic growth and job creation; planning the development of technology innovation centers; and stakeholder outreach and education to support economic workforce development.
The University of Utah (the U) intends to use the $9.6 million of CORE-CM funding for the Rocky Mountain Region to evaluate the carbon and critical minerals associated with coal and other sources across CORE-CM Region 6.
The goals of the U-led program include:
• Evaluating the regional carbon and critical mineral and material resources associated with coal and sedimentary deposits, mining waste, and other potential value-added materials.
• Assessing and characterizing coal and critical mineral and material resources to determine their potential in the Rocky Mountain region.
• Share information gathered through the CORE-CM Region 6 program through the DOE Energy Data Exchange database.
• Develop plans to address regional strategies for business commercialization, workforce readiness, technology assessments, stakeholder outreach, energy equity and justice, ongoing energy transformation, and community impacts.
• Develop a roadmap for technology innovation centers.
• Coordinate its research efforts with other CORE-CM regional efforts, DOE–NETL working groups, and the Critical Materials Collaborative.
The University of Wyoming (UW) plans to apply the $10.2 million of CORE-CM funding that it has received to catalyze regional economic growth and resource security by developing domestic supply chains that use secondary and unconventional critical mineral resources across the ten states and four coal basins covered by CORE-CM Region 4.
The UW-led project team and supporting stakeholder consortium will develop, document, and initiate plans toward developing a nexus of CORE-CM resources, technology innovation centers, and communities of the future within the Great Plains and Interior Highlands.
This effort is expected to contribute to the meaningful development of diverse, domestic critical mineral supply chains.
With $9.6 million in CORE-CM regional funding, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University plans to lead a consortium of academic institutions, research laboratories, federal and state natural resource offices, and consultancies to promote regional economic growth and foster new job creation by accelerating the characterization of critical minerals for potential future extraction in the Appalachian Mountain region.
The "Expand Appalachia" project team partners are Virginia Tech, University of Kentucky, Penn State, West Virginia University, Bluefield State University, Marshall Miller & Associates, Bandy Geological, Virginia Department of Energy, Kentucky Geological Survey, Crescent RI, Chmura Economics & Analytics, Gray Energy, Coalfield Strategies, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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