Recent events have signified the importance of having U.S. domestic supply chains. Were you aware that the United States is import-reliant on critical minerals (CM) and rare earth elements (REE)? Why is this important? CM and REE are found in the technologies we use every day including cell phones, electric vehicles, energy technologies, and even our country’s national defense.

Diversification of sources of CM and REE is a critical component of reestablishing a domestic CM and REE supply chain. To further the goals of Executive Order (EO) 13817: A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing the enabling technologies for future commercial facilities specifically designed for CM and REE extraction, beneficiation, processing, separation and metallization.

Carbon ore (coal) is an abundant domestic resource and successes from bench- and small-scale projects are demonstrating the capability for future large-scale pilot projects. Join us to hear about these successful projects and learn about how DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy Research and Development is enabling the use of carbon ore, refuse, ash and acid mine drainage for production of CM and REE.