US awards $162M to turn mining waste into critical minerals
Washington is backing nine projects seeking to recover strategic metals from discarded materials,
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated $162 million in potential funding to support nine projects aimed at recovering critical minerals from existing mine waste and industrial sources. This initiative, part of a broader effort to bolster domestic supplies of energy, defense, and manufacturing materials, focuses on scandium, copper, antimony, and rare earth elements.
Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson emphasized the importance of leveraging existing facilities to produce critical materials necessary for national security and economic growth. By investing in these labs and pilot-scale operations, the DOE aims to de-risk commercial-scale production technologies and create new economic opportunities.
The funding underscores the US administration's strategy to extract maximum value from already mined, processed, or discarded materials rather than solely developing new deposits. Critical minerals, essential for technologies ranging from smartphones to advanced weapons, are of particular concern due to China's dominance in several mineral supply chains.
This push for domestic production of critical minerals is a priority for the Trump administration. The DOE selected Anactisis, Still Bright, Nusano, and SiTration for projects aimed at advancing processes from laboratory scale to prototype demonstrations. Additionally, Thompson Creek Metals Company USA, Treasure Creek (owned by Felix Gold's ASX: FXG) in Alaska, DISA Technologies, Alcoa (NYSE: AA), and Trigg Minerals were chosen to move existing pilot-scale technologies closer to pre-commercial demonstration.
Many of these projects are targeting unconventional sources of critical minerals, such as mine waste and industrial byproducts that previously held little economic value. For instance, Felix Gold's Treasure Creek project near Fairbanks, Alaska, focuses on extracting high-grade antimony—a material crucial for defense applications—from existing mining infrastructure.
Other initiatives are exploring waste streams from old tailings, abandoned copper mines, and existing aluminum facilities. While these projects do not guarantee the $162 million in funding, they represent a significant step towards diversifying the US supply chain for critical minerals, thereby reducing reliance on foreign sources, especially China.
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