The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it is awarding $162 million to nine projects aimed at recovering critical minerals from industrial feedstocks and existing infrastructure.
The funding supports efforts to extract materials such as scandium, copper, antimony, and rare-earth elements from sources that were previously discarded, including mining waste, old tailings, abandoned copper mines, and aluminum facilities. The goal is to strengthen the domestic supply chain and reduce reliance on foreign sources, particularly China.
Selected companies include Anactisis, Still Bright, Nusano, SiTration, Thompson Creek Metals Company, Felix Gold, DISA Technologies, Alcoa Corporation, and Trigg Minerals.
One project, Felix Gold’s Treasure Creek near Fairbanks, Alaska, will use existing gold mine infrastructure to extract high-grade antimony, a material used in ammunition, sensors, and flame retardants. Another, SiTration, an MIT spinout, will recover copper and rare-earth materials from diluted mining waste streams at operating sites.
The awards are part of a larger DOE effort that could provide up to $275 million for similar projects. In July, the department already awarded $75 million to five projects focused on producing rare earths and other critical materials from coal and coal-based feedstocks.
