$134 million invested in two projects as the U.S. advances waste-to-rare-earth extraction to bolster domestic supply chains

The U.S. Department of Energy announced a new round of support programs on Tuesday, finalizing rare earth industrialization projects in Louisiana and Oklahoma, with a total allocation of $134 million in special subsidies. The focus is on extracting rare earth resources from various industrial tailings and production waste resources to accelerate closing the gap in domestic rare earth production.

Breaking down the funding, $67 million is designated to support the Colorado School of Mines in collaboration with ElementUSA to establish a smelting project in Louisiana. The project site and plant construction rely on a bauxite residue resource utilization route to extract rare earths. The new plant will conduct commercial pilot-scale verification, with annual rare earth output ranging from 150 to 1,000 tons upon commissioning, revitalizing existing tailings and solid waste resources.

The remaining funds will be used for the Oklahoma demonstration project, led by Phoenix Tailings with technical research and development support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The project focuses on purifying high-purity rare earth metals from industrial solid waste, building a new localized rare earth supply chain through novel processes.

Building on previously implemented support policies, as early as May this year, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a pilot subsidy of up to $19.3 million to U.S. Rare Earths, a domestic rare earth magnet manufacturer, for a rare earth smelting (pilot) project. The consecutive disbursement of multiple financial funds highlights the U.S. policy orientation of relying on waste recycling routes to improve the entire rare earth industry chain and reduce dependence on overseas resources.