The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to issue notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) totaling nearly $1 billion to support the development and scaling of mining, processing, and manufacturing technologies across critical mineral and materials supply chains. These initiatives, aligned with President Trump’s Executive Order Unleashing American Energy, aim to secure a reliable, affordable domestic supply of resources essential to energy, national security, and industrial competitiveness.
The proposed NOFOs include:
- Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator: The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office anticipates up to $50 million in funding for projects that advance key supply-chain technologies. Areas of interest cover rare-earth magnet production, refining and alloying of gallium, gallium nitride, germanium, and silicon carbide for semiconductors, cost-competitive direct lithium extraction and separation, and co-production of valuable materials from byproducts and scrap.
- Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion: The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management plans to offer approximately $250 million in financial assistance to U.S. industrial facilities. This funding will support pilot-scale deployment of byproduct recovery technologies in existing industrial operations, including those in the coal sector, to reduce technical and financial risks associated with commercial-scale projects.
- Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility: The Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains intends to allocate up to $135 million to establish domestic demonstration facilities for refining and recovering rare earth elements (REEs) from mine tailings, deleterious materials, and waste streams. Applicants must include an academic partner and provide at least a 50% cost share.
- Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program: Up to $500 million will be available to expand U.S. capacity in critical mineral processing, battery manufacturing, and recycling. Eligible materials include lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, aluminum, and associated rare earth elements. Recipients must share at least half of project costs.
- Recover Critical Minerals from Industrial Wastewater: The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will soon announce selections for its $40 million RECOVER program. The initiative focuses on technologies to extract critical minerals from industrial wastewater, tapping domestic waste streams to complement traditional mining operations.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
