Inside the DOE's $16 Million Bet on Critical Minerals Talent

The United States is making a significant $16 million investment to bolster its workforce in critical minerals, a sector that has fallen under China's control. Beijing's dominance in the global critical minerals supply chain is attributed to its Belt and Road Initiative and extensive presence in mineral-rich countries worldwide.

This dominance gives China political and economic leverage, particularly as critical minerals become increasingly vital for tech manufacturing. Despite recent U.S. investments in refining capacities, China still refines 85% of the world's rare earth materials, down from 90% in 2023. However, China's share of refining has increased to 72% from 70% over the past few years.

The International Energy Agency predicts a more-than doubling of global demand for critical minerals by 2040, driven by energy technologies such as battery storage, solar, wind, electricity networks, and electric vehicles. This investment aims to address the U.S.'s critical need for trained workforce in this sector, as only 163 degrees in mining engineering were awarded in the U.S. in 2025 compared to 3,000 in China.

The DOE's PROSPECT Planning Prize, which offers $16 million, will support 16 mining school programs to build a domestic workforce capable of producing, processing, recovering, and recycling critical minerals. The goal is to have graduates ready for reindustrialization. The U.S. has also signed deals worth over $40 billion with primary producers of critical minerals, but lags behind China in this effort.