Critical Minerals and Materials Program

Highlights

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Vision

Build reliable, resilient, affordable, diverse, sustainable, and secure domestic critical mineral and materials supply chains that support the clean energy transition and decarbonization of the energy, manufacturing, and transportation economies while promoting safe, sustainable, economic, and environmentally just solutions to meet current and future needs. 

 

Program

Four efforts (diversiy and expand supply, develop alternatives, improve material & manufacturing efficiency, build the circular economies) for basic science, applied R&D, pilots, demonstrations, and commercial deployment

Learn more about the CMM program at DOE: Building Secure Supply Chains for America's Energy Future.

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Strategy

Four columns labeling pillars above four labeled efforts
  • Diversify and Expand Supply: Identify and secure substantial resources from a wide variety of feedstocks including primary and secondary sources, co-produced materials from existing operations, and international partners.  
  • Develop Alternatives: Produce new materials that have less disruption potential and design manufactured parts and systems that require little to no critical materials to function.
  • Improve Materials and Manufacturing Efficiency: Design for atom economy, reduce waste through efficient use, and improve overall efficiency of mining through manufacturing and recycling to minimize environmental impacts while maximizing yield. 
  • Build the Circular Economy: Remanufacture, refurbish, repair, reuse, recycle, and repurpose all materials that are used in a modern economy to extend the lifetime of materials and/or partially offset the need for virgin material extraction.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports these strategy pillars by enabling activities, cross-cutting functions to enable and enhance research, development, demonstration, and deployment efforts across four areas: 

  • Analysis and advanced tools
  • Market assessment and development
  • International engagement and standards
  • Education and workforce development.

Funding Opportunities

Review recent open and closed (under review) funding opportunities related to critical minerals and materials and catch up on awardees from past funding selections.

* Coordinated through the Critical Materials Collaborative.

Relevant Offices

Resources