US awards $75M to recover critical metals from coal

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) this week announced $75 million (C$106.5 million) for five projects using pilot-scale plants to extract rare earth elements and other critical materials from coal.

The funding, from the DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation is for the Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting Byproduct Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities program. It will target the production of rare earth elements as well as germanium, gallium, and aluminum, the DOE said.

“American industrial facilities have the potential to produce valuable critical materials from coal and coal byproducts,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said in a release. “By investing in these facilities, we can increase domestic critical materials production and help mitigate the financial risk of commercial deployment.”

$1B+ in support

The project funding comes amid continuing U.S. government support for the development of domestic critical metal supply chains, following a $45.7-million investment in May for pilot projects. The DOE also announced an almost-$1 billion initiative last August for mining, processing and manufacturing technologies used for extracting critical minerals and materials.

The five projects supported under the funding announced Wednesday include The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota; Valor Metals in New York; CONSOL Innovations (NYSE: CNR) in Pennsylvania; American Resources (Nasdaq: AREC) in Indiana and Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) in Missouri.

Those projects are part of the Topic Area 1: Mines & Metals Pilots – Coal-Based Industry set. A second set under Topic Area 2: Mines & Metals Pilots – All Industries will be announced at a later date.

While the funding program seeks to advance critical metal development, the DOE said it also advances the Donald Trump Administration’s efforts to strengthen the U.S. coal sector, including almost $700 million for coal infrastructure and operations.

• with files from Amanda Stutt