The US Department of Energy has selected nine projects for a combined $162 million in potential funding aimed at recovering critical minerals from mine waste and industrial feedstocks. The initiative represents a significant effort to strengthen domestic supplies of materials essential for energy production, defense applications and manufacturing sectors. The selected projects will focus on extracting scandium, copper, antimony and rare earth elements from existing mines, tailings, industrial facilities and other feedstocks.
According to Audrey Robertson, Assistant Secretary of Energy, the program represents a vital opportunity to leverage bench-scale and pilot-scale facilities to produce critical materials necessary for national security. "By investing in these facilities, we can de-risk commercial scale production technologies to grow new economic and manufacturing opportunities," Robertson stated, as reported by Mining.com on August 18, 2026. The DOE program aims to transition technologies from laboratory and pilot stages toward commercial production.
Four companies and entities—Anactisis, Still Bright, Nusano and SiTration—were selected for projects designed to advance processes from laboratory or bench scale to prototype demonstrations. Thompson Creek Metals Company USA, Felix Gold's Treasure Creek project in Alaska, DISA Technologies, Alcoa and Trigg Minerals were chosen to move existing pilot-scale technologies closer to pre-commercial demonstration phases. Most of the selected projects pursue unconventional sources of critical minerals, including mine waste and industrial byproducts that have historically held limited economic value.
Felix Gold's Treasure Creek project near Fairbanks, Alaska, focuses on recovering high-grade, near-surface antimony using existing mining infrastructure. Antimony is used in ammunition, sensors, flame retardants and other applications critical to the defense sector. SiTration, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinout based in Cambridge, has developed technology to recover copper and other critical materials from diluted mining waste streams at operating sites.
The approach could significantly shorten the path to production by pairing new recovery technologies with facilities and materials already in place, potentially transforming mining and industrial liabilities into sources of strategic commodities. The selection builds on the DOE's August 2025 announcement of nearly $1 billion aimed at expanding US mining, processing and manufacturing capacity across critical-mineral supply chains. In July 2026, the DOE announced an additional $75 million for five projects seeking to produce rare earth elements and other critical materials from coal and coal-based feedstocks.
China has dominated the production and processing of many critical minerals for decades and has previously used mineral export restrictions during trade disputes, creating concerns in Washington regarding access to materials needed for military equipment, energy technologies and advanced manufacturing. However, the latest selections do not guarantee that companies will receive the stated funding. Projects must first undergo award negotiations with the DOE, which retains the authority to modify award amounts, cancel negotiations or rescind selections before funds are issued.
Source: mining.com