The U.S. Department of Energy, through its National Energy Technology Laboratory on behalf of the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, has issued a Notice of Intent for a future Notice of Funding Opportunity titled “Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting By-Product Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities.” This notice is informational only and the NOFO is anticipated to be released in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2025. It reflects the Department’s strategic effort to bolster domestic critical mineral supply chains in response to significant U.S. reliance on foreign sources, particularly China, for essential materials.
The background for this initiative is rooted in the national energy emergency declared under Executive Order 14156 and reinforced by Executive Order 14241, which call for immediate action to increase domestic mineral production. Current U.S. imports account for more than 80 percent of rare earth elements, with certain critical materials entirely sourced from China. This dependency, combined with recent export restrictions by China on minerals like gallium, germanium, indium compounds, antimony, and bismuth, has impacted global supply chains and triggered market volatility. The DOE aims to leverage existing industrial facilities to recover valuable byproducts from industrial processes to strengthen domestic capacity and mitigate these vulnerabilities.
The anticipated NOFO will focus on pilot-scale recovery facilities capable of processing actual feedstocks and operating continuously or semi-continuously at technology readiness levels 5 through 7. Two main topic areas are expected. Topic Area 1 will target coal-based industries, with up to three awards between $10 million and $50 million each, and a total of $75 million in government funding. Topic Area 2 will be open to all domestic industries with eligible byproduct streams, offering up to seven awards between $10 million and $50 million each, with a total of $175 million in funding. Cost-share requirements are expected to range between 20 and 50 percent. Projects must demonstrate a plan for commercialization between 2028 and 2030 and are encouraged to incorporate process automation and sustainable operations for at least five years.
The funding is intended to support the design, construction, and operation of facilities that recover sustainable, market-ready critical minerals and materials, such as cobalt, nickel, magnesium, manganese, gallium, germanium, lithium, and rare earth elements. Eligible applicants will likely include a wide range of domestic industrial facilities, with eligibility specifics to be finalized in the NOFO. The DOE may require concept papers or letters of intent, but this has not yet been decided.
Applicants will need active registrations in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and DOE’s eXCHANGE system before submission. Registration processes can take several weeks, and SAM requires a Unique Entity Identifier for all applicants and subrecipients. The notice emphasizes starting these registrations early to avoid delays. Upon NOFO release, full application requirements, deadlines, and evaluation criteria will be provided, along with a channel for applicant questions. This NOI does not accept applications, comments, or inquiries, and all details remain subject to change pending final NOFO publication.
