{
  "id": 8334852,
  "title": "US DOE looks to industry for critical minerals cleanup at legacy sites",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/us-doe-looks-to-industry-for-critical-minerals-cleanup-at-legacy-sites",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-18T23:41:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mining.com",
    "slug": "mining-com",
    "url": "https://www.mining.com/us-doe-looks-to-industry-for-critical-minerals-and-materials-cleanup-at-legacy-sites/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) has issued an expression of interest (EOI) to solicit input from American industry regarding the potential transfer of surplus critical minerals, rare earth elements, and other materials located at five EM cleanup sites across the country. These materials, a result of past nuclear weapons production and government-sponsored energy research, are no longer needed for planned activities and may hold value for private industry, including advanced technology, manufacturing, alternative energy, and national defense. The critical minerals and rare earth materials targeted in this EOI include aluminum, cesium-137, chloride, copper, fluorine, lead, lithium hydride, platinum, selenium, silver, tungsten, and vanadium. EM Director Rob Seifert emphasized that these surplus materials could help support American jobs, strengthen the industrial base, and advance the administration's energy and national security priorities. This EOI marks the first step in engaging with the private sector to explore opportunities for collaboration.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}