Funding Initiative Overview The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on August 13 its intention to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) totaling approximately $1 billion to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical minerals and materials. This large-scale investment aims to promote technology adoption, commercialization, and expansion across supply chain stages from mining to manufacturing and recycling. The initiative is implemented as part of policies based on President Trump's executive order "Unleashing American Energy."
Five-Area Support Programs Funding will be implemented across five areas. First is advancement and commercialization of critical mineral and material production technologies (approximately $50 million ceiling), targeting production technology development for rare earth magnets, semiconductor gallium, germanium, silicon carbide, lithium, and others. Second is recovery of critical minerals from waste and by-products (approximately $250 million), supporting technology improvements for recovering useful minerals as by-products at existing industrial facilities. Third is establishment of rare earth refining and recovery demonstration facilities (approximately $135 million), supporting commercialization of technologies for extracting rare earths from mine tailings, hazardous materials, and waste.
Battery-Related and Advanced Technology Development Fourth is battery material processing, manufacturing, and recycling (approximately $500 million ceiling), supporting processing and recycling demonstration or commercial facilities for battery-utilized minerals including lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, and aluminum. Fifth is critical mineral recovery technology development by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) (approximately $40 million), promoting technologies for recovering critical minerals from industrial wastewater. Areas three and four require funding recipients to bear over 50% of costs.
Strategic Significance and Policy Background The United States currently depends on foreign countries, including China, for many minerals used in rare earths and batteries. This funding provision aims to break away from this dependency and rebuild domestic manufacturing infrastructure. DOE Secretary Chris Wright stated: "Under Trump's leadership, DOE will play a leading role in bringing critical material processing operations back home and expanding domestic supply of these essential resources," emphasizing the policy direction of strengthening domestic supply from energy security and economic security perspectives.