January 6, 2025 - The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced $45 million in federal funding for six projects to create regional consortia to accelerate the development of critical mineral and materials supply chains including novel nonfuel carbon-based products from secondary and unconventional feedstocks. Realizing the value of secondary and unconventional feedstocks, such as coal and coal by-products, effluent waters from oil and gas development, and acid mine drainage will enable the United States to rebuild domestic supply chains for critical minerals and materials. By focusing on abundant American secondary and unconventional sources, these investments will support dependable and enduring supplies for American manufacturing and production of technologies essential to clean energy and our nation’s defense.

“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. “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.”

Selected projects will build upon the work of DOE’s Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative, expanding the focus from the basin scale to cover eight regions across the Nation. Teams consist of partners such as private industry; universities; local, state, and federal government; local communities; and Tribes and Tribal organizations who will develop and implement strategies that enable each U.S. region to realize its economic critical minerals and materials potential, including valuable non-fuel carbon-based products.

• University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, Alaska) will work with three state geological surveys from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington to better understand the geologic framework and distribution of underexplored mineral resource deposits in the Northwest.
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois), through the Illinois State Geological Survey, will work with the geological surveys of Michigan, Kentucky, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio to build the economic case for developing critical minerals and materials from coal and coal wastes in the Upper Midwest.
• University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) will identify resource potential in the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin areas, including from petroleum industry waste; produced water; coal, coal ash, and other coal mine related waste; and other nonfuel mine and processing wastes.
• University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah) will evaluate critical minerals and materials and carbon associated with coal-related materials, sedimentary-hosted minerals, waste-related materials, and other potential value-added materials in the Rocky Mountain region.
• University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyoming) will assess the Great Plains and Interior Highlands, which consists of ten states and four basins, to develop domestic supply chains that use secondary and unconventional critical mineral resources.
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia) will lead a consortium of academic institutions, research laboratories, federal and state natural resource offices, and consultancies to evaluate critical minerals for potential future extraction in the Appalachian Mountain region.

DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, under the purview of FECM, will manage the selected projects. A detailed list of the selected projects can be found here. Additional selections may be made at a later date. 

FECM reduces emissions from fossil energy production and use and key industrial processes, while strengthening U.S. energy and critical minerals security. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements, and visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory website.