US Department of Energy awards $75M to recover critical minerals from coal feedstocks

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation has awarded $75 million to five projects using coal and coal-based feedstocks to produce rare earth elements and other critical materials.

The funding is part of a larger $275 million initiative announced in November to support pilot-scale opportunities for byproduct critical minerals and materials recovery at domestic industrial facilities.

Five projects have been selected as the first of two topic areas under funding consideration: Mines & Metals Pilots—Coal-Based Industry. The selected sites are:

• The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota;
• Valor Metals in New York, New York;
• CONSOL Innovations LLC in Pennsylvania;
• American Resources Corporation in Indiana;
• Peabody Energy in Missouri.

These facilities will produce market-ready critical materials, including rare earth elements, and other minerals such as germanium, gallium and aluminum, the DOE said in a statement. The National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the projects.

“American industrial facilities have the potential to produce valuable critical materials from coal and coal byproducts,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said in a news release. “By investing in these facilities, we can increase domestic critical materials production and help mitigate the financial risk of commercial deployment.”

Selections under the second topic area, Mines & Metals Pilots—All Industries, will be announced at a later date.

The 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.

Recent announcements include the Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility Program.

The announcement, the DOE said, advances the Trump Administration’s efforts to strengthen the US coal sector, including nearly $700 million for coal infrastructure and operations, and reflects a broader commitment to unlock the value of coal and coal-based feedstocks as domestic sources of critical minerals and materials.