HOUSTON, August 19th (Argus) - The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Tuesday that it may provide up to 162 million US dollars in funding for nine domestic projects, which focus on recovering key minerals from industrial raw materials. The selected projects will recover various key minerals - including rare earths, copper and antimony - in existing laboratory-scale and pilot-scale facilities. The DOE's investment will be used to enhance the technology readiness levels (TRL) of these laboratory-scale and pilot-scale sites. The goal is to advance laboratory-scale projects from the laboratory stage to the prototype stage, and pilot-scale projects from the prototype stage to the pre-commercial demonstration stage. These projects will be managed by the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory. The project funds will come from the DOE's Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation Office, but the selected negotiation projects do not guarantee a funding commitment. This move follows the US Department of Energy's announcement in August 2025 of an investment of up to 975 million US dollars to advance and expand mining, processing and manufacturing technologies.
