Secretary Chris Wright Announced Funding for Critical Minerals Including Repurposed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Programs
McAllister & Quinn has been closely tracking the Trump Administration’s push to invest in domestic critical minerals supply chains through executive orders, recent legislation like H.R. 1 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act), and agency notices of funding. While the announcement below is the most significant action to date, we expect DOE to announce more programs in the near future.
On August 18th, the Department of Energy issued several funding programs in their “Actions to Secure American Critical Minerals and Materials Supply Chain” announcement. This announcement includes programs from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that have been repurposed to align with President Trump’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Order. These forthcoming rounds of funding will unlock nearly $1 billion in funding for technologies to strengthen domestic critical minerals and materials supply chains. The investments span the entire critical minerals ecosystem including mining, processing, and manufacturing technologies.
Battery Manufacturing and Minerals Processing Program ($500 million)
The proposed funding will support commercial and demonstration facilities that include both traditional battery materials (lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, aluminum) as well as other commercially available rare earth elements. This NOI is one of the first cases of Secretary Wright repurposing Biden-era grant programs to align with the Trump administration’s domestic priorities, as reported by POLITICO.
- Award Size: $50 million – $200 million
- Period of Performance: 24-48 months
- Applicant Cost-Share: 50%
McAllister & Quinn has helped clients secure over $750 million in prior rounds of the Battery Manufacturing and Minerals Processing grant program, including a $480 million award for Ascend Elements.
Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting Byproduct Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities ($250 million)
This Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) program will provide funding for industrial facilities that have the potential to produce valuable mineral byproducts from existing industrial processes. Applicant cost-share is subject to change based on the final Notice of Funding Opportunity.
- Topic Area 1: Mines & Metal Pilots for Coal-Based Industry ($75 million)
- Award Size: $10 – $50 million (Max 3 awards)
- TRL Level: 5-6 (beginning) | 7 (project completion)
- Topic Area 2: Mines & Metals Pilots for All Industry ($175 million)
- Award Size: $10 – $50 million (Max 7 awards)
- TRL Level: 5-6 (beginning) | 7 (project completion)
Rare Earths Demonstration Facility ($135 million)
The program from DOE’s Office Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) aims to enhance the domestic supply of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) by demonstrating the commercial viability of methods for domestically refining and recovering REEs from mine tailings, deleterious material, and waste streams. Academic partnerships and a 50% applicant cost-share are required for this opportunity. Letters of Intent to submit to this program are due on October 13th.
Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM) Accelerator ($50 million)
The CMM accelerator is an Office of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office’s (AMMTO) program designed to promote technology maturation and unlock capital investments and facilitate domestic commercialization. This AMMTO program has several areas of interests including “processes in the rare-earth magnet supply chain; processes to refine and alloy gallium, gallium nitride, germanium, and silicon carbide for use in semiconductors; cost-competitive technologies for direct lithium extraction and separation; and critical-material separation technologies that allow for the co-production of useful products from byproducts and scrap.”
Derryck Hains
Derryck is a Director in McAllister & Quinn’s Advanced Technology Practice. Derryck provides strategic intelligence (SI) support to the firm’s industry clients on the forefront of technology innovation. In addition, he works to align clients’ priorities with federal sponsors and programs.
