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Federal funding for regional collaboration on domestic critical minerals

Last updated: 25 April 2025

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced a USD 45 million funding programme in January 2025 to establish regional consortia for developing domestic critical mineral supply chains. This programme aims to establish diverse domestic supply chains for critical minerals by utilising abundant American secondary sources. The initiative emphasises workforce development, community engagement, and regional economic growth while supporting the transition to clean energy technologies. Through coordinated regional efforts, the programme seeks to transform underutilised resources into valuable materials for American manufacturing and defence applications.

The CORE-CM Initiative funds six university-led regional consortia to characterise, analyse, and develop critical mineral resources from unconventional sources such as coal by-products, acid mine drainage, and industrial waste streams. Each consortium brings together state geological surveys, universities, private industry, and local communities to identify and prioritise resource development opportunities within their regions.

The total DOE funding across all projects is $45 million, with additional non-DOE funding bringing the combined total value to USD 57,469,393. The grantees are as follows:

  • Northwest Region CORE-CM Project - University of Alaska Fairbanks Total Value: USD 9,375,001 (DOE: USD 7,500,000, Non-DOE: USD 1,875,001) Working with three state geological surveys to perform data collection and analysis of underexplored mineral deposits across 22% of the United States.
  • Upper Midwest & Illinois Basin Initiative - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Total Value: USD 9,386,784 (DOE: USD 7,500,000, Non-DOE: USD 1,886,784) Focusing on characterising critical minerals from coal and coal wastes across six states through extensive sampling and geochemical analysis.
  • Gulf Coast and Permian Basin Project - University of Texas at Austin Total Value: USD 9,374,999 (DOE: USD 7,499,999, Non-DOE: USD 1,875,000) Assessing critical mineral potential in petroleum industry waste, produced water, coal ash and other industrial by-products while developing technology innovation centres.
  • Rocky Mountain Region Assessment - University of Utah Total Value: USD 9,598,204 (DOE: USD 7,500,000, Non-DOE: USD 2,098,204) Evaluating regional carbon and critical mineral resources from coal-related materials while developing plans for business commercialisation and workforce readiness.
  • Great Plains Initiative - University of Wyoming Total Value: USD 10,176,484 (DOE: USD 7,500,000, Non-DOE: USD 2,676,484) Developing domestic supply chains using secondary and unconventional critical mineral resources across ten states and four basins.
  • Expand Appalachia Project - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Total Value: USD 9,557,921 (DOE: USD 7,500,000, Non-DOE: USD 2,057,921) Leading a consortium to accelerate the characterisation of critical minerals for potential future extraction in the Appalachian Mountain region.

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