The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation has announced nine project selections, worth $162m, for critical material recovery efforts.
The nine projects will support the recovery of a range of critical materials—including scandium, copper, antimony, and rare earth elements—at bench- and pilot-scale sites from industrial feedstocks.
The Trump Administration is determined to bolster domestic supply chains
These selections stem from DOE’s August 2025 announcement of nearly $1 billion to advance and scale mining, processing, and manufacturing technologies across key stages of the critical minerals and materials supply chains.
These investments deliver on President Trump’s Executive Order, Unleashing American Energy and advance the President’s continued efforts to secure domestic critical mineral supply chains and strengthen U.S. national security.
“Leveraging existing bench-scale and pilot-scale facilities is a vital opportunity to produce critical materials necessary for our energy, defense, and economic security,” said Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson. “By investing in these facilities, we can de-risk commercial scale production technologies to grow new economic and manufacturing opportunities.”
The winning projects
DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the nine selected projects under Topic Area 2 of the Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting Byproduct Critical Minerals and Materials at Domestic Industrial Facilities funding opportunity.
DOE selected four projects for Topic Area 2a: Mines & Metals Pilots—All Industries—Prior Bench-Scale Facilities:
- Anactisis Inc. (Headquarters: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Still Bright Inc. (Headquarters: Newark, New Jersey)
- Nusano Inc. (Headquarters: West Valley City, Utah)
- SiTration Inc. (Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts)
The goal of each 2a project is to advance the technology readiness level of their process/system from 4 or 5 to 7 (i.e., from laboratory to prototype).
DOE selected five projects for Topic Area 2b: Mines & Metals Pilots—All Industries—Prior Pilot-Scale Facilities:
- Thompson Creek Metals Company USA (Headquarters: Langeloth, Pennsylvania)
- Felix Gold Alaska Treasure Creek Inc. (Headquarters: Fairbanks, Alaska)
- DISA Technologies Inc. (Headquarters: Mills, Wyoming)
- Alcoa USA Corp. (Headquarters: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Trigg Minerals (Headquarters: Jersey City, New Jersey)
Previously developed pilot-scale efforts identified for 2b are expected to advance the technology readiness level of their process/system from 6 or 7 to 7 or 8 (i.e., from prototype to pre-commercial demonstration).
