DOE taps coal waste for critical minerals – Metal Tech News
DOE taps coal waste for critical minerals
Metal Tech News – July 8, 2026
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Fly ash and other waste streams from more than 300 years of coal mining in the U.S. host enormous critical mineral potential
Selects five pilot projects to recover rare earths, gallium, germanium, aluminum, and other critical materials from coal-based feedstocks
As part of a nearly $1 billion initiative to bolster domestic critical mineral supply chains, the U.S. Department of Energy has selected five projects for award negotiations under a $75 million push to accelerate the recovery of rare earths, gallium, germanium, aluminum, and other critical materials from coal and coal-based feedstocks
The selected projects fall under the coal-based industry topic area of DOE’s Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting Byproduct Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities funding opportunity. DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the five projects to pilot technologies capable of producing market-ready critical materials from coal-based re
“American industrial facilities have the potential to produce valuable critical materials from coal and coal byproducts,” said DOE Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson. “By investing in these facilities, we can increase domestic critical materials production and help mitigate the financial risk of commercial deployment.”
DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the five selected projects under Topic Area 1: Mines & Metals Pilots – Coal-Based Industry:
•University of North Dakota is spearheading a pilot facility to advance the recovery of critical minerals at the Falkirk coal mine near Underwood, N.D
•Valor Metals is commercializing its electrochemical liquid-liquid extraction (e-LLE) technology to recover critical minerals from coal byproducts and other feedstocks
•CONSOL Innovations is advancing a pilot-scale facility to extract rare earths and other critical minerals from coal waste tailings in Pennsylvania
•American Re-scale recovery of critical minerals and materials from coal and coal-based feedstocks
•Peabody Energy is advancing the “Wyoming Rare Earths Project” to extract critical minerals from coal byproducts and within its Powder River Basin operations
These projects are part of a broader DOE effort to scale mining, processing, and manufacturing technologies across key stages of the critical minerals and materials supply chains. This includes the $134 million Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility Program focused on recovering rare earths from mining and industrial waste streams
Selections for award negotiations are not a final funding commitment, and the five critical mineral recovery from coal-based feedstock projects remain subject to award negotiations
Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News
With more than 18 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration, and technology metals
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 907-726-1095
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-lasley-ab073b12/
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