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DOE awards $10M to boost R&D for critical minerals like gallium and rare earths
The seven selected projects include work on extracting gallium from industrial residues and developing methods to improve copper recovery.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation has awarded $10 million to seven projects aimed at accelerating early-stage research and development for critical materials used in energy technologies, Mining.com reports.
According to the DOE, the funded work will focus on rare earth elements, gallium, copper, and other critical materials, including efforts designed to expand supply without opening new mines by targeting industrial byproduct and refining streams.
The projects cover multiple extraction and refining approaches, including gallium recovery from existing industrial streams, process intensification using chloride-based molten salt electrolysis for heavy rare earth metal production, and improvements to copper extraction through hydro and bio-hydro metallurgical processes.
Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said the projects build on the Critical Materials Innovation Hub’s expertise to address technical challenges across heavy rare earth elements, gallium, copper, and other critical materials.
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